The UK’s National Crime Agency has frozen £10,024,041.33 held in a Barclays account in the name of Football Association Premier League Limited, as it investigates alleged unlicensed gambling and third-party criminal activity tied to crypto-gaming firm Sorare, according to The Sun. The Premier League is not suspected of any wrongdoing itself, according to the report.
Sorare operates a fantasy sports game in which users assemble virtual squads from digital cards depicting real players, with contest outcomes determined by those players’ on-pitch performances. The UK Gambling Commission charged Sorare at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court in 2024, alleging it supplied gambling facilities and services without formal operating authorisation – a case tied into the UK’s broader push against unlicensed operators skirting UK gambling law. Sorare disputes the classification, arguing outcomes hinge on user skill and judgment rather than chance, and denies all allegations. Trial is scheduled for June 2027.
The freezing order itself is a separate, earlier procedural step. The NCA obtained it under the Proceeds of Crime Act from Westminster Magistrates’ Court in January 2025, and it remains in effect until September 14. The Premier League is due back in court on September 6 to seek changes to its conditions. The sum in question is reported to be the first instalment Sorare paid under an annual £30 million agreement.
NCA Cites Risk of Dissipation
An NCA spokesperson confirmed the order was issued to prevent the funds from disappearing or being dispersed while investigators examine any potential link between the money and alleged third-party criminality. That framing keeps the freeze distinct from a finding of guilt against either the league or Sorare – it is an evidentiary safeguard, not a penalty.
The episode lands amid wider UK regulatory attention on crypto-football tie-ups. The Financial Conduct Authority warned this summer that football fans are being targeted by unlicensed cryptocurrency firms and traders, flagging club sponsorship deals as a mechanism such firms use to build awareness and attract investment – a concern that echoes the UK’s recent scrutiny of gambling-adjacent sponsorship arrangements in sport.
Partnership Already Wound Down
The Premier League’s tie-up with Sorare, announced in 2023 as a four-year, £120 million deal granting card rights across all 20 clubs, concluded after the 2025-26 season. Sorare maintains the contract simply reached its agreed end date rather than being cut short because of the investigation. Investors and ambassadors named alongside the deal – including Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Kylian Mbappé, Rio Ferdinand and Serena Williams – face no suggestion of involvement in the alleged criminality.
The Premier League declined to comment on the freezing order. Sorare said it could not discuss the order specifically but reiterated that its contract expired on schedule and firmly denies the Gambling Commission’s characterisation of its product as gambling under UK law.
Source: Chosun Biz / OSEN, citing an exclusive report by The Sun
Petra Vanhoof has spent the better part of a decade following the shifting tides of gambling regulation across Europe and beyond. She came up through the compliance side of the industry before pivoting to writing, which gives her a grounded, no-nonsense perspective on the rules, loopholes, and political maneuvering that shape how operators actually do business. She is particularly drawn to the gap between what regulators say and what the market ends up doing in response.