{
  "id": 9945474,
  "title": "Meet Rui Pinto, the hacker whose leaks shook world football",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/26/meet-rui-pinto-the-hacker-whose-leaks-shook-world-football",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-26T08:52:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch Nigeria",
    "slug": "punch-nigeria",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/meet-rui-pinto-the-hacker-whose-leaks-shook-world-football/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Rui Pinto, a Portuguese computer hacker, became internationally recognized through his creation of Football Leaks, a website that published confidential documents from clubs, players, and agents. Football Leaks exposed the hidden side of football, including internal emails about sponsorship deals and payments involving Manchester City, which played a central role in the club's financial controversy with the Premier League. Pinto, who grew up in Vila Nova de Gaia, was particularly good with computers, as his former geography teacher Mario Falcao recalled. The club's financial charges against Manchester City are linked to the documents published by Pinto through Football Leaks. Pinto's story extends beyond Manchester City, as he has been at the center of a debate over whether he should be seen as a criminal hacker or a whistleblower. He began Football Leaks in 2015 to expose the hidden side of football and shared tens of millions of documents with a German journalist, Rafael Buschmann, who helped produce reports that drew international attention.",
  "summary": "Meet Rui Pinto, the Portuguese hacker behind Football Leaks, whose published documents are linked to the Premier League’s financial charges against Man Cit Read More: https://punchng.com/meet-rui-pinto-the-hacker-whose-leaks-shook-world-football/",
  "key_points": [
    "Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto created Football Leaks in 2015.",
    "Football Leaks exposed Manchester City's financial controversy with Premier League.",
    "Pinto's actions debated: criminal hacker or whistleblower."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Punch",
        "title": "Meet Rui Pinto, the hacker whose leaks shook world football",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/26/meet-rui-pinto-the-hacker-whose-leaks-shook-world-football-9949621",
        "published": "2026-09-26T09:22:48.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}