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 (; 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 in the change of ownership of Po ...

. The company is registered in Gibraltar, a 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 (, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing sports club in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contrac ...

. 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 ...

, run by Zahavi's friend

Kia Joorabchian Kiavash Joorabchian () 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, Canadian and British, born on 14 ...

, to bring players to

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista Sport Club Corinthians Paulista () is a Brazilian professional sports club based in São Paulo, in the district of Tatuapé. Although it competes in multiple sports modalities, it is best known for its professional men's Association football, f ...

, namely Carlos Alberto from Porto, and

Javier Mascherano Javier Alejandro Mascherano (; born 8 June 1984) is an Argentine Association football, football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. As a player, he played as a centre-back or defensive ...

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 who plays for Estudiantes de Río Cuarto. Club career Belluschi began playing professionally at Newell's Old Boys in 2002, with whom he won the 2004 Apertura Cha ...

(50%) *

Lucho González Luis Óscar "Lucho" González (; born 19 January 1981) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer, currently a Manager (association football), manager. A versatile midfielder who was able to play in different positions ...

(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

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References

See also