Football Leaks Founder Forced to Leave Portugal Days After Man City Verdict

Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto says he has been forced to leave Portugal for an undisclosed location after authorities withdrew his witness protection days after the Manchester City verdict.

Pinto’s leaked documents helped prompt investigations into City’s financial affairs, culminating in the club being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules.

The 37-year-old was informed on Wednesday that his participation in Portugal’s witness protection programme would end on 10 October. He said the decision had left him with “no alternative” but to relocate for an indefinite period.

Pinto claims to have received multiple death threats and fears an attempt could be made on his life. His lawyers also revealed that he was assaulted in Lisbon in April and described his current situation as “critical”.

They have appealed against the decision and asked Portugal’s Ministry of Justice to explain how its latest assessment concluded that the threat to Pinto was sufficiently low for his protection to be removed.

Until that appeal succeeds, the man whose files helped expose one of football’s largest financial scandals has effectively been given several days to arrange his own safe house.

Pinto entered the protection programme in 2020 after agreeing to cooperate with Portuguese authorities and provide access to millions of documents gathered through Football Leaks.

He has now launched a crowdfunding campaign seeking €3 million to fund his relocation and security. The campaign had already collected thousands of euros shortly after going live.

The timing has inevitably attracted attention. Pinto was informed that his protection would be withdrawn shortly after City were found guilty, although there is no evidence that the two decisions are directly connected.

Manchester City deny wrongdoing and have appealed the commission’s verdict.

Football spent years examining the documents supplied by Pinto. Portugal has taken rather less time to decide that protecting the person who supplied them is no longer its responsibility.