The same tax-haven secrecy enabling some football club owners to hide their financial affairs from supporters also facilitates massive tax dodging in poor countries.

South Africa’s Competition Commission (CC) has started an investigation into price-fixing among six leading airlines that will take thousands of supporters to this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa.

The International Olympic Committee headquarters in Switzerland where the owners of the Olympics are registered as members of a non-profit sports club and as such they do not have to pay 20 percent income tax on their billion dollar income.

Four countries are chasing an estimated £2.1 billion bonus from the rights to host the 2015 or 2019 rugby world cups, which could see the tournament staged in a number of football stadia.

The beleaguered financial model of football clubs operating as Public Limited Companies on stock exchanges has taken a further knock with one of the last PLC teams in England sinking into administration.

This article is a resume of a study carried out by Amnyos Group for the French Ministry of Sport. It provides an overview of the structure of sports financing in EU and recommendations in regards to securing the financing of sport in Europe.

Professor Simon Chadwick, Director of CIBS, is giving a webcast masterclass on the recession's influence on world sport. Watch his masterclass online.