Indian Super League club FC Goa launched an official complaint of spying against Mumbai City FC, before their match on February 28.
Goa, which was training at the Neville D’Souza ground in Bandra West, Mumbai, on Tuesday morning, spotted someone recording the movements of its players from afar, raising eyebrows of the coach and the team management.
On confronting the individual, it was known that he was one of the team analysts of their next opponent.
“After the allotted time for media (first 15 minutes) was over, the team noticed someone recording the training sessions from a distance,” a source told Sportstar on the condition of anonymity.
“The person was caught red-handed and it was found out that he was one of the analysts of Mumbai City FC. Immediately, the higher authorities of the club were informed and after having a chat with the concerned club, FC Goa launched an official complaint against the same to the Indian Super League.”
Manolo Marquez, the coach of FC Goa, was enraged by the incident, which was evident in the pre-match press conference. When asked about Borja Herrera’s injury, he said, “Ask the photographer who was recording our training session”, but it was later clarified that he was a team analyst from Mumbai City FC.
Spying has not had any specific rules in football until 2019 when Leeds United, under manager Marcelo Bielsa, faced sanctions for spying on Derby County, before their EFL Championship semifinal.
Leeds eventually won the match 2-0, with Bielsa later revealing that his team spied on all opponents.
After the incident, named the spy-gate scandal in English football, a new rule was introduced by the English Football League to forbid the opponent from watching a team’s training in the 72 hours immediately before a fixture, unless invited to do so (Section 127.1 in the EFL Handbook of Regulations).
There is, however, no specific law by FIFA that forbids spying in football.
In September 2022, the United States Soccer fined Orlando City, which beat Sacramento Republic in the US Open Cup final, after the club was allegedly found spying on its opponent before the summit clash.
Though the claims were not proved, the financial sanctions were imposed as the action went against ‘the good of the game and fair play.’
Most recently, on February 25, a training session of AS Roma was cancelled in Italy after the club found an individual recording the team’s practice sessions.
The man was later identified by the newspaper “Il Messaggero” as one of the assistants to Ivan Juric, the head coach of Torino, Roma’s next opponent. Roma eventually won that match 3-2.
Mumbai City, which won the League Winner’s Shield last season, has seen its manager Des Buckingham and some high-profile foreigners, including Greg Stewart – the Golden Ball winner in the ISL 2021-22 and Durand Cup 2022 – leave the club this season.
However, new head coach Petr Krtaky has steadied the ship, with the team sitting second in the league, one point below leader Odisha FC. A win for MCFC, against Goa, will see it go top in the standings while a win for the visiting side would bring it level on points with Kratky’s boys.
Neither of the clubs, FC Goa or Mumbai City, commented on the issue when Sportstar reached out to them.
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