Football Leaks hacker Rui Pinto hides his identity

Rui Pinto, a Porto fan who at 25 founded the portal Football Leaks in 2015 under the pseudonym John, leaked confidential documents that forced the Premier to open an investigation of 115 charges against Manchester City; arrested in Budapest in 2019 and sentenced in 2023, he now lives under a protected identity.

The hacker's origin and Football Leaks

According to Xavier Bosch, Pinto studied History at university before devoting himself to self‑taught hacking. With computer knowledge, at 25 he created Football Leaks, a website aimed at exposing fraudulent practices in the beautiful game.

Using the alias John, he accessed file systems of clubs, players and institutions, publishing information never before revealed. Among the documents were alleged tax frauds involving Cristiano Ronaldo and Mourinho, salaries of thousands of players, FIFA irregularities, exploitation of African children, and accusations of financial doping against PSG and other clubs.

Legal repercussions and the new identity

The leaks triggered the Premier's opening of an investigation that includes 115 financial charges against Manchester City, suspecting that the club's multimillion‑pound revenues did not come from sponsors but from maneuvers to meet fair‑play.

Rui Pinto was arrested in Budapest in 2019, extradited to Portugal and, in 2023, received a four‑year sentence for unlawful access and attempted extortion. He served 13 months behind bars before a cooperation agreement with the authorities allowed him to suspend the sentence.

As part of the agreement, he was offered police protection, secret housing and a new identity, which allows him to live out of the public eye while remaining under surveillance.

The contrast between his role as a whistleblower of abuses and the need to hide underscores the complexity of confronting powerful interests in contemporary football.