{"id":115867,"date":"2026-09-02T11:53:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T11:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/115867\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T11:53:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T11:53:24","slug":"britains-nca-freezes-sorares-13-5-million-premier-league-payment-over-barclays-probe-how-10-outlets-framed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/115867\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s NCA Freezes Sorare\u2019s $13.5 Million Premier League Payment Over Barclays Probe: how 10 outlets framed it"},"content":{"rendered":"

NCA freezes Sorare-linked cash<\/p>\n

The Cryptopolitan report says the money was transferred by Sorare as part of its four-year-long licensing agreement with the League, and that the NCA\u2019s aim was \u201cto prevent dissipation of the funds while the NCA investigates any potential links between those funds and alleged third-party criminality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Chosunbiz\"Chosunbiz<\/a><\/p>\n

Cryptopolitan adds that the Premier League has not been accused of any wrongdoing and requested the court to change the order, which is valid until September 14.<\/p>\n

The Cryptonews.net account similarly describes the freeze as over 10 million pounds ($13.5 million) held by the soccer Premier League and says the order was obtained from Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court in January 2025 under the Proceeds of Crime Act.<\/p>\n

Cryptonews.net also states that the freeze is understood to relate to the first payment made by Sorare under its $140 million, four-year partnership deal with the Premier League, signed in 2023, and that the deal was terminated at the end of last season.<\/p>\n

Court challenge and denials<\/p>\n

The Premier League is seeking to vary the terms of the freezing order, which runs to September 14, in a court hearing described by Cryptonews.net as taking place on Monday.<\/p>\n

Cryptonews.net reports that Sorare denies any wrongdoing and that neither the Premier League nor Sorare responded to CoinDesk\u2019s request for further comment.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Cointelegraph\"Cointelegraph<\/a><\/p>\n

Cryptopolitan frames the freeze as part of a wider UK push to scrutinize sponsorships in football, and it says the Financial Conduct Authority alerted various clubs about the dangers of working with unauthorized financial and cryptocurrency firms on June 3, 2026.<\/p>\n

Cryptopolitan quotes Lucy Castledine, FCA consumer-investments director, saying, \u201cA logo on a shirt means one thing: that firm paid for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same Cryptopolitan piece also quotes Chris Roberts, head of white-collar crime at Grosvenor Law, saying, \u201cAccount freezing orders are made by magistrates on application and, importantly, the proceedings are civil rather than criminal in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gambling prosecution and timeline<\/p>\n

Cryptonews.net reports that Sorare denies any wrongdoing in both matters and that the trial is scheduled for June 7, 2027, at Birmingham Magistrates\u2019 Court.<\/p>\n

Cryptopolitan similarly says the Gambling Commission accused the company of conducting gaming activity in the UK without the required license under the Gambling Act 2005 and that the trial will take place on June 7, 2027, at Birmingham Magistrates\u2019 Court.<\/p>\n

Cryptopolitan adds that Sorare state that the deal will end in 2025-26 season, and it says the company\u2019s investors and ambassadors include Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Zinedine Zidane, and Rio Ferdinand as well as Serena Williams.<\/p>\n

The Cryptopolitan report also notes that the NCA freeze order is separate from the Premier League\u2019s status, stating that the Premier League itself is not accused of wrongdoing while the NCA investigates possible links between the funds and alleged third-party criminality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NCA freezes Sorare-linked cash The Cryptopolitan report says the money was transferred by Sorare as part of its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21264],"tags":[3343,47446,9256,33950,8196,33949,33948],"class_list":["post-115867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barclays","tag-barclays","tag-britains-nca-freezes-sorares-13-5","tag-crypto","tag-media-analysis","tag-media-bias","tag-news-compared","tag-news-comparison"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117201312525107095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}