Der Spiegel journalist Christoph Winterbach has cited Martin Odegaard’s father’s actions as a rare example of a positive leaked story in football.
German outlet Der Spiegel have been back in the news again this week, in light of the reported guilty verdict handed to Manchester City over the vast majority of the 115 charges against them.
City are still set to appeal the verdict, but if they are ultimately punished, Der Spiegel will have played a role. Their leaks brought much of City’s alleged wrongdoing into the public eye, and perhaps created an environment where an investigation into their conduct was a realistic possibility.
Much of Der Spiegel’s leaks focused on the negative side of football. The financial cheating, the payments off the books, and so on.
But in a media appearance this week, Der Spiegel journalist Christoph Winterbach did cite one positive story that they’d uncovered in relation to Martin Odegaard’s move to Real Madrid.
“I remember, for example, the father of Martin Odegaard saying that he doesn’t want the image rights of his son to be transferred to the British Virgin Islands,” Winterbach said.
“He thinks football players make enough money already, and they don’t need to hide this income because everyone should pay their taxes.
“[That news] was quite well received by people, like it was a breath of fresh air. But it only is that because it is an exception. It was the one person in a whole scheme [standing] up and saying ‘no, I don’t want to contribute to that scheme’.”
In the leaked email in question, Hans Erik Odegaard was quoted as saying: “He will make a lot of money anyway; it’s also a moral issue about how much effort you should make in trying to save yourself some tax money when other people struggle more to pay for theirs.”
It’s certainly true that in an ideal world, this wouldn’t be a big story. A footballer paying their taxes correctly is really the bare minimum.
Unfortunately, as Winterbach points out, Odegaard’s father was one of the only ones not to go ahead with the plan. At least he was setting a good example for the future Arsenal captain.
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