Rio Football Services Limited is a private investment firm in association football based in Israel. The firm has been linked to super-agent

Pini Zahavi Pinhas "Pini" Zahavi ( he, פנחס "פיני" זהבי; born 1955Jackson, Jamie"Profile: Pini Zahavi, football's first and only super-agent" The Observer, 26 November 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-12) is an Israeli football agent. Zahavi was involved ...

. The company is registered in Gibraltar, the tax haven. Through subsidiaries Rio Football Services Hungary Szolgaltato KFT, Rio Football Services Malta and Rio Football Services Holland BV, the company purchased part of the ownership of footballers and received part of the transfer fee when they were sold. The company has been known as Global Soccer Agencies Limited, Global Soccer Investments. It was reported it once submitted a takeover bid for

Polonia Warszawa Polonia Warsaw ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

. The company, funded by unknown backers, was associated with

Media Sports Investment Media Sport Investment Limited (MSI) was a London-based international investment fund that was headed by the Iranian-born, British-educated, businessman Kia Joorabchian. It has attracted considerable attention for its partnership between 2004 and 2 ...

, run by Zahavi's friend

Kia Joorabchian Kiavash Joorabchian ( fa, کیاوش جورابچيان) is an Iranian-born British-educated businessman largely involved in association football. In the register of directorships at Companies House in London, Joorabchian gives two nationalities ...

, to bring players to

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista Sport Club Corinthians Paulista () is a Brazilian sports club based in the Tatuapé district of São Paulo. Although competing in a number of different sports, Corinthians is mostly known for its professional association football team that plays ...

, namely Carlos Alberto from Porto,

Javier Mascherano Javier Alejandro Mascherano (born 8 June 1984) is an Argentine professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Argentina national under-20 team. As a player, he played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder, most not ...

from River Plate. The following players were once, or are currently, partly owned by Rio Football Services: *

Fernando Belluschi Fernando Daniel Belluschi (, ; born 10 September 1983) is an Argentine midfielder currently playing for Estudiantes de Río Cuarto. Club career Belluschi began playing professionally at Newell's Old Boys in 2002, with whom he won the 2004 Aper ...

(50%) *

Lucho González Luis Óscar "Lucho" González (; born 19 January 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer, currently a manager. A versatile midfielder who was able to play in different positions but mainly in the centre, he was well known for his f ...

(50%) (GSA and later Rio Football Services) * Lisandro López (50%) (GSA and later Rio) *

Luís Fabiano Luís Fabiano Clemente (born 8 November 1980), commonly known as Luís Fabiano, is a retired Brazilian professional footballer who played as a striker most notably for Sevilla, São Paulo, and the Brazil national team. He is a prolific goals ...

(75%) GSI (and later Rio) Through Selkan Limited, London (defunct); Jonathan Barnett (5%) and Powsfield Limited (95%) were the shareholders in the company.

References

{{reflist

References

See also