Rui Pinto: Uncovering Football Leaks founder whose revelations sparked Manchester City investigation
By Joel Masibo, September 30, 2026Rui Pinto became one of the most controversial figures in football after creating Football Leaks and releasing a huge collection of confidential documents that exposed details about the financial dealings of clubs, players and other organisations.
The Portuguese national, who is now 37, has been linked to the long-running scrutiny of Manchester City after documents obtained through his activities were published by German magazine Der Spiegel and its European Investigative Collaborations partners.
The revelations eventually contributed to investigations into the Premier League champions and their financial affairs.
Who is Rui Pinto?
Pinto was born in Vila Nova de Gaia, close to Porto, and is a supporter of FC Porto.
He studied history at university in his hometown and was only 11 when his mother died.
In 2015, Pinto established Football Leaks while operating under the name “John”. His stated objective was to reveal “the hidden side of football”.
At the time, he was living in Hungary and earning a living as an antiques dealer.
His activities later attracted international attention after millions of documents connected to the football industry were obtained and distributed to media organisations.
How was Pinto connected to Manchester City?
One of the most significant developments came in 2018, when Pinto provided Der Spiegel and members of the European Investigative Collaborations network with more than 70 million documents concerning the football business.
Among the material were documents and communications that prompted further scrutiny of Manchester City.
UEFA subsequently investigated the English club and imposed a two-year ban from European competitions. However, the sanction was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 following City’s appeal.
Pinto was formally identified as the person behind Football Leaks in 2019.
His revelations have remained relevant to the wider debate surrounding football finances and the way clubs conduct commercial and financial operations.
What are Manchester City’s Premier League charges?
Manchester City’s case centres on alleged financial-rule breaches covering the period from 2009 to 2018.
The Premier League launched its investigation after Der Spiegel published leaked financial documents concerning City in November 2018.
The matter was subsequently placed before an independent commission.
The commission has now found City guilty of the charges relating to serious financial-rule breaches over nine seasons, as well as most of the allegations concerning the club’s cooperation with the league’s investigation.
The Premier League said: “An independent commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
The commission also concluded that between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons, City used what were described as “sham” commercial arrangements.
According to the Premier League, these agreements did not reflect the actual arrangements between the parties and were used to increase the club’s reported income while lowering its costs.
City has the right to challenge the commission’s decision and has until October 2 to lodge its appeal.
The club has already indicated that it intends to do so, stating that it “will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.”
City also said it “has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”
Pinto’s legal battles in Portugal
Pinto’s activities have also resulted in several criminal proceedings.
In April, he was acquitted in Portugal after facing allegations connected to the unauthorised access of email accounts belonging to sports organisations and other institutions.
The case involved 241 alleged offences and included claims relating to Benfica, one of Porto’s biggest rivals, as well as law firms, magistrates and Portugal’s tax authority.
The court dismissed the case after determining that the charges were “invalid”, with the proceedings relating to matters for which Pinto had already been tried and convicted in September 2023.
Pinto had previously been arrested in Budapest in January 2019 after Hungarian authorities acted on an extradition request.
He spent more than a year in pre-trial detention before agreeing to cooperate with investigators in other cases, giving authorities access to encrypted information.
In 2023, Pinto received a six-month suspended prison sentence in France after being convicted of hacking the email accounts of Paris Saint-Germain executives.
Despite the legal battles surrounding him, Pinto’s Football Leaks disclosures have had a lasting impact on investigations into the financial practices of football clubs and organisations, including the long-running Manchester City case.