The Portuguese hacker behind Football Leaks handed over 3 terabytes of documents that eventually helped bring down Man City

[Hollow Coder]

Rui Pinto, a Portuguese computer hacker from Vila Nova de Gaia near Porto, founded the Football Leaks website in September 2015, publishing confidential club documents including internal emails covering sponsorship deals and payment arrangements. Pinto reportedly provided over 3 terabytes of illegally obtained data, roughly equivalent to 3,000 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica, to the German outlet Der Spiegel and the European Investigative Collaborations consortium, initially making contact with a journalist under the pseudonym John.

The leaked documents implicated major football figures including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar, alongside clubs such as Manchester City, Benfica and FC Porto, and the resulting revelations directly triggered the Premier League's financial investigation into Manchester City that would eventually run for eight years. That investigation culminated in a September 2026 verdict finding City guilty of 114 out of 115 charges relating to financial rule breaches, making Pinto's leaked material a direct root cause of one of English football's biggest ever disciplinary cases.

Pinto's own legal journey proved considerably rockier than the impact of his leaks. He was arrested in Hungary in 2019 and extradited to Portugal, where a 2023 trial found him guilty of attempted extortion, illegal data access and breach of correspondence, resulting in a four year suspended sentence. A second trial began in Lisbon in January 2025 with its outcome still pending, and Pinto has at various points been placed in witness protection, held in solitary confinement, and subjected to house arrest throughout the lengthy legal process. Journalist Winterbach, who worked with him, described Pinto as a very impressive character, very focused and very idealistic about the topics he uncovered.

Rui Pinto: The hacker who tried to take down Manchester Citywww.bbc.co.uk