Is this 'the largest breach in football history'? Hackers allegedly breach Cristiano Ronaldo's Saudi team and AFC governing body, leak passports, contracts, and emails online

Date:
Wed, 29 Apr 2026 18:15:00 +0000

Description:
More than 150,000 people allegedly affected, including tens of thousands of professional athletes.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter AFC football governing body reportedly compromised, exposing sensitive data on over 150,000 members
Leaked records allegedly include passport scans, contracts, emails, and detailed player information The attack was advertised as the largest breach
in football history, with researchers warning of fraud risks The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the main governing body for football in Asia, has apparently been compromised after an attack saw highly sensitive and personal details on more than 150,000 members exposed to the dark web.

A report from Dataminr calims a threat actor posted a thread on the PwnForums marketplace over the weekend, advertising the archive. In it, the attackers say said they dumped the complete AFC players and coaches database including data from Al Nassr FC, where giants like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Man, or Marcelo Brozovi play. The database allegedly contains passport scans, contracts, emails, and AFC registration files. Article continues below You
may like Ajax suffers major own goal as data breach hits personal info of 300,000 fans Top Abu Dhabi finance summit exposes personal data, passport
info of hundreds of major global figures Top photo ID apps leak user data - over 150,000 thought to have been affected Posting samples The combination of passport scans , verified email addresses, and player contract data creates a highly actionable package for financial fraud, contract manipulation, and targeted social engineering against some of the worlds highest-earning athletes, said Jeanette Miller-Osborn, Field Cyber Intelligence Officer at Dataminr.

The threat actor posted a few samples to prove the authenticity of their claims, and besides the above, these also contained peoples full legal names, dates of birth, nationalities, player positions, AFC IDs, club names, match details, and venue information.

The threat actor thanked ShinyHunters for their help posting the leak and described the attack as the largest breach in football history. However, this person is most likely not affiliated with the group, since Dataminr described them as a forum-level operator leveraging the credibility of ShinyHunters, just to try and grab some money for their efforts.

At press time, the AFC has not yet commented on the leak. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get
all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

At the same time, the researchers urged both the AFC and its members to be wary of incoming messages, and to review how they store athlete data. The
best antivirus for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best antivirus 1. Best overall: Bitdefender Total Security 2. Best for families: Norton 360 with LifeLock 3. Best for mobile: McAfee Mobile Security Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/is-this-the-largest-breach-in-football- history-hackers-allegedly-breach-cristiano-ronaldos-saudi-team-and-afc-governi ng-body-leak-passports-contracts-and-emails-online


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)