Soccer:Footballers in Britain have used sophisticated scams to dodge taxes while the game internationally is being targeted by criminals for money-laundering, according to a new report.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based international body, today published a report warning of criminal involvement in football.

Crime figures are investing ‘dirty money’ in clubs and players, with Italy, Belgium and Argentina among the countries where examples were cited.

Tax evasion by players in the UK was also highlighted as a problem in the FATF report - with the clubs involved being aware of the scams.

In one case, a player’s £300,000 signing on fee was disguised as part of a fee paid by the club to a foreign agent. The agent then paid the player the £300,000 into an overseas bank and this was not disclosed to the UK tax authorities.

The report states: “It is likely that the club concerned was fully aware that the payment to the agent included a signing-on fee for the player and the benefit to the club in such an arrangement is that it avoided social security contributions of £38,000.”

In another case, a British club agreed a deal where they did not pay a foreign player a signing-on fee or loyalty bonus but made payments totalling £1.4million for his image rights to a company registered in an offshore tax haven.

Despite being advised that the image rights had no commercially exploitable value, the club renegotiated both the playing and image rights contracts after three years, increasing the level of payments in both.

The report says: “The club concerned conceded that the image rights agreement was part of the employment terms and paid over additional duties of £938,688. Additional duties of £404,480 were also to be paid over the future life of the image rights contract.”

The report also warns of match-fixing, illegal gambling and trafficking of young players.