The research focuses on the business practices of football agent Andy Bara, who runs his agency, Niagara Sports, in Croatia and Spain. He is renowned for orchestrating significant player transfers, including Dani Olmo's move from Dinamo Zagreb to RB Leipzig, followed by his transfer to FC Barcelona after Olmo’s success with the Spanish national tea at Euro 2024. However, Bara has also been linked to controversial 'bridge transfers', whereby young African players are funnelled through smaller European clubs - particularly the Croatian third-division side NK Kustošija - in a way that often bypasses the compensation owed to their original training clubs.
One example is Mikayil Faye, who disappeared from the Senegalese academy Diambars FC and reappeared months later in Croatia, where he played briefly for Kustošija before being transferred to Barcelona. Despite training him for years, Diambars received nothing from the deal, while Kustošija, Barcelona, and Niagara profited. A similar case involved Baye Coulibaly, whose former Malian club reportedly received only €50,000 of a €1.95 million transfer fee. Several other young African players have followed the same path, raising questions about ethical and regulatory breaches.
These transfers are not handled directly by Bara, but by Montenegrin businessman Borislav Dvorzak, who runs a bank largely owned by his wife. This bank finances Kustošija’s acquisition of African talent and assumes the financial risk if players underperform. However, it the transfers are successful, Dvorzak profits from resale deals, which he helps arrange. This arrangement raises serious concerns regarding conflict of interest concerns, particularly given that one of the bank’s shareholders is Robert Kovač, a former Bayern Munich player who is now an assistant coach at Borussia Dortmund - a club potentially linked to players from Bara’s agency.
Bara’s influence extends further stiill: Niagara Sports operates in Montenegro, sharing an address with Dvorzak’s bank and partering with the local club FK Berane. The close links between agencies, banks, and clubs suggests a systematic attempt to control transfer channels for greater profit, often at the expense of players’ original clubs. One notable example of this is the transfer of Cardoso Varela to Barcelona via Dinamo Zagreb, which left his training club, FC Porto, empty-handed. This again highlights the exploitative nature of these operations.
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