U.S. club investor in jail after arrest over fraud allegations, Vinicius Junior's sublime assist

New York Times

4 hours ago

The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic's daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox.
Hello. Today we're bringing you the wild tale of the multi-club ownership figure whose history in football leaves him under arrest and locked up in a Barcelona prison. He denies wrongdoing. TAFC has the full story.
Plus: Vinicius Junior reprises the 'Heel of God' assist, Ronaldo resolves his future, and Weah and McKennie cross swords with the Italians.
Pacific Media Group (PMG) is not the world's most prominent multi-club ownership stable, but it played a part in setting the trend before it was as ubiquitous or as fashionable as it is now. At its peak, PMG had no fewer than seven European clubs under its umbrella.
One of its co-owners, Paul Conway, is a 55-year-old American who plenty of people in the sport know of or would recognise. Last night, Matt Slater broke the astonishing story that Conway is locked up in a Spanish prison, where he has been in custody for over a month. He's there because of criminal allegations relating to PMG's ownership history — and one Belgian team specifically.
Advertisement
It's essential to say at the outset that Conway denies wrongdoing. His wife, Louisa, spoke to Matt and said the experience of learning her husband had been arrested during a trip to Spain on May 20 — he planned to fly home to the U.S. a few days later, to help his daughter visit prospective colleges — was like 'waking up in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, where a person is thrown in jail for stealing bread.'
Conway, however, is subject to a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by a court in Belgium. The Belgian authorities, who have not commented on the affair, intend to extradite him and question him over six allegations of fraud relating to the financial collapse of KV Oostende last year. Conway's legal team are fighting extradition — leaving the Florida-based businessman trapped behind bars in Barcelona.
PMG's record of ownership, as Matt explains, is incredibly mixed. It ran OGC Nice in France for a while and made a healthy profit when the club was sold to Manchester United minority shareholder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, in 2019, for a sum of £85m ($117m). Other projects proved far less successful.
At various points, the group has also held stakes in Barnsley of England, FC Thun of Switzerland, Nancy of France, Esbjerg of Denmark, Den Bosch in the Netherlands, Kaiserslautern in Germany and GKS Tychy in Poland. But it was its management of Oostende, where PMG invested in 2020, which led to Conway being detained five weeks ago.
The main allegation against him concerns a transfer involving Mickael Biron, a striker from Martinique who was 23 when Oostende (one PMG team) signed him from Nancy (another PMG team) in 2021. He cost in the region of £4.25m ($5.2m), according to reports at the time, but was then loaned straight back to Nancy before being sold on for a lower fee 12 months later.
Advertisement
Questions were asked about whether the deal was constructed to financially assist Nancy. Other claims against Conway relate to what the EAW calls 'unusual costs' involving Oostende and Nancy. Conway's family strenuously deny he was involved in any fraud and point out he was one of numerous people involved in running Oostende, that nobody else has been arrested and that his own personal stakes in Oostende and Nancy were small.
It's not in dispute that PMG was a deeply unpopular owner by the time it exited Oostende in 2024. The club were effectively taken over by an administrator, who could not find a way to rescue them. But Conway maintains he is innocent of any criminal offences and, after weeks in a prison cell, can do little else than wait for legal arguments to play out.
Ever since Rodri pipped Vinicius Junior to the Ballon d'Or, poor Vini Jr has been reaching for the form which put the trophy at his fingertips in the first place. There's magic in those toes — and those heels.
It came forth last night with a genius assist as Real Madrid wrapped up their group stage — and the Club World Cup's group stage as a whole — by sweeping aside Red Bull Salzburg 3-0. Vinicius Jr's backheeled pass to Federico Valverde was manna from heaven for GIF enthusiasts (otherwise known as us).
As many people noticed, it was not far off a replica of the storied assist served up by one of his Madrid predecessors, Guti, for Karim Benzema in 2010, dubbed the 'Heel of God'. Why shoot yourself when you can present a colleague with a gimme instead? As it happened, broadcaster DAZN had great footage of Guti in its commentary booth, looking on with a knowing smile. Fifteen years later, the baton's been passed.
In a manner of speaking, Cristiano Ronaldo did feature in the Club World Cup. He wasn't there in body, but Gianni Infantino setting the hares racing by predicting the 40-year-old might join one of the 32 participants got him in the headlines.
Truth be told, it was never happening. Ronaldo had offers and Argentina's River Plate were open about theirs, but the most likely direction of travel was confirmed yesterday when he signed a new deal with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Advertisement
The contract runs to 2027, which takes him beyond the next World Cup and to the age of 42. The most interesting part of Al Nassr's announcement were the final few seconds of their promotional video, in which Ronaldo said: 'Al Nassr forever.'
It begged the question: is this his forever club now? Are we talking about Ronaldo's last professional deal? Or will the pursuit of that 1,000th career goal keep him going until he drops? I know where my money's going.
(Kick-offs ET/UK time. All Club World Cup matches are shown on DAZN in the U.S. and UK, as well as the other channels stated.)
Saturday: FIFA Club World Cup last 16: Palmeiras vs Botafogo, 12pm/5pm — TNT, Fubo, ViX (U.S. only); Benfica vs Chelsea, 4pm/9pm; UEFA European Under-21 Championship final: England vs Germany, 3pm/8pm — Channel 4 (UK only); Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-finals: Panama vs Honduras, 7.15pm/12.15am; Mexico vs Saudi Arabia, 9.15pm/3.15am — both Fox Sports, Fubo, ViX/Premier Sports; MLS: FC Dallas vs San Diego, 8.30pm/1.30am; San Jose Earthquakes vs LA Galaxy, 10.30pm/3.30am — both MLS Season Pass/Apple TV.
Sunday: FIFA Club World Cup: Paris Saint-Germain vs Inter Miami, 12pm/5pm — TNT, Fubo/Channel 5; Flamengo vs Bayern Munich, 4pm/9pm — Channel 5 (UK only); Concacaf Gold Cup quarter-final: Canada vs Guatemala, 4pm/9pm; USMNT vs Costa Rica, 7pm/12am — both Fox Sports, Fubo, ViX/Premier Sports; MLS: Columbus Crew vs Philadelphia Union, 6pm/11pm — MLS Season Pass/Apple TV.
Further to yesterday's theme of podcast aggro, we've got details of a jovial diplomatic incident involving Italy and the United States.
USMNT pair Weston McKennie and Tim Weah drew attention to a pod produced by their club, Juventus, last week by gently besmirching Italian cuisine. Egged on by McKennie, Weah's abridged verdict was: 'Y'all don't have much variety. If I go to this restaurant and get a pesto pasta and then go 10 minutes down the street and order a pesto pasta, it's going to be the same thing.'
Advertisement
That's dangerous territory. With his tongue in cheek, former Italy goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano threw a counter-punch, saying he 'wouldn't let (them) back into Italy' (with the U.S. duo at the Club World Cup) and warning McKennie he had 'achieved the incredible feat of managing to unite all of Italy against him.' Man versus food, football style.