Benfica, one of Portugal’s biggest football clubs, is facing dozens of corruption charges which could see the club banned from all competitions between six months and three years.
It is the latest scandal to rock national football and involves alleged attempts by club officials to gain access to magistrates’ investigations involving Benfica and its rivals.
The alleged crimes took place between 2016 and this year and are being linked directly to Paulo Gonçalves, the club’s legal advisor.
Dubbed ‘E-Toupeira’, the investigation found that the club allegedly has ‘moles’ in the Portuguese judicial system who provide secret information to club officials.
Not only can Benfica be banned from all competition to up to three years, it could also lose the right to any kind of state subsidy between one to five years.
Benfica has denied any foul play and said it will fight the corruption charges and “do everything it can to prove its innocence”.
The Portuguese football federation’s disciplinary committee also announced it launched its own investigation after the Public Prosecutor’s charges became public.
