We.Protect.Football.

Professional security investigations for German professional football.

Threatened online?
We are the ones who look closer.
We record what others miss - so the authorities can act.

New from the start of the 26/27 season

The Matchday Radar

Every week after the matchday: what is running online against players, referees and clubs. Analysed anonymously, with an early-warning radar.

Bundesliga 2. Bundesliga 3. Liga Women's Bundesliga

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Vetted & listed BDSF senior member

Who we work for

Professional footballers. Coaches & referees. Player agents & clubs.

We work for the people in professional football who are publicly exposed every day - and for those who carry responsibility for them. Player agents and agencies, clubs, associations, players, referees.

Methodical social media monitoring · In-depth OSINT analysis
Handover-ready for law enforcement

Florian Sprengel - Founder

Founder & Expert

Some things need to be done. Not said.

One lesson from 14 years of investigative work: the most effective steps are the ones that neither the environment nor the perpetrator ever learns about.
Sometimes what you don't see is what counts.

If you entrust someone with sensitive matters, you should know who has vetted them. So, in brief: former police officer and intelligence service officer - cybercrime, surveillance operations, counter-terrorism and counter-espionage. Vetted under Germany's highest security clearance level. Today Lead Security Intelligence & Investigations at a NASDAQ-listed corporation.

We.Protect.Football. deliberately remains boutique: a small, specialised unit with selected mandates. Our own follower counts and reach are no measure of this work.

Co-Founder · Methodological Assurance

Dr. Elisabeth Sprengel

Research · Data validation. Responsible for the methodological preparation.

Verified profile

Florian Sprengel

Lead Security Intelligence & Investigations · 10 years police & domestic intelligence · Expert assessor for white-collar crime

View profile →

Background

Former police officer · Former domestic intelligence service · NASDAQ corporate security

Officially security-vetted in 2016 under - Germany's highest security clearance level

Methodology

Expert assessor for

White-collar crime · Security investigations in professional football · Security consulting & threat prevention in professional sport

Football from the inside

Formerly licensed FIFA Player Agent

For authorities to step in and for your existing media lawyers to act successfully, it takes secured traces.

▸You focus on your success - we focus on those who want to disrupt it◂

Much of your daily routine is already handled by others. The same should apply to what is running online against you or your players - we make it tangible and handover-ready.

Player Agents & Players

Professional footballers · women & men

Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, 3. Liga, Women's Bundesliga. Daily threats, hate, extortion DMs. Without professional case preparation, proceedings run into the sand - and the perpetrator carries on.

For player agents & clients →

Referees & Coaches

Referees & coaches

One controversial decision - and the threats reach family and home address. Referee representatives and coaching staffs have less PR protection, but the same risk.

For representatives & associations →

Clubs & Associations

Clubs & officials

Board members, sporting directors, press officers, security officers - threatened by organised defamation and external threat situations. Plus a duty of care documented to a recognised standard (DIN SPEC 14027).

For clubs & organisations →

A threat becomes a case file. A case file becomes proceedings.

@ Social Media

Relevant for investigation

Re-enacted, anonymised examples based on typical case patterns.

Cross-connections

Three accounts. One person.

Click the dots: Through stylometry, reverse image search and activity patterns, we often find a trace leading to the person behind seemingly anonymous profiles.

Monitoring · Sample timeline

The match is decided - and the hate stream tips.

Hate posts at peak 297 / hour 14× the daily average

3:30 pm kick-off 5:02 pm own goal 73rd minute +3 h +6 h

Monitoring · Sample comparison

Gut feeling is not evidence. Data is.

Without monitoring

Scattered screenshots, no full picture
Most of it goes unnoticed
Hours of reading, no robust analysis

"It feels like a lot is coming in right now - no idea how much exactly."

With monitoring

Mentions captured12,847

Negative sentiment4,213

Hate-related387

Criminally relevant47

Recurring accounts11

Corporate membership · 1530 Intelligence KG

Member of the German Association of Data Protection Officers (BvD) e. V.

Personal expert assessor qualification · Florian Sprengel

Our conviction

Protection against threats, hate and targeted defamation - even when the perpetrator hides behind seemingly anonymous accounts. We recognise patterns, find traces, reconstruct connections.

For professional footballers, women and men
For agents and player agencies
For clubs and associations

From digital trace to physical security.

If you want to defend yourself, you need experts who read traces and recognise patterns. We do not perform IT forensics on hardware - we conduct proactive operational intelligence (OSINT). We identify aggressors, uncover fraudulent acts and secure traceable chains of evidence online.

Yet the line between a digital threat and physical danger is thin. Real security does not end at the screen. Whether it is someone scouting out your home or anonymous letters in your mailbox: we put the puzzle pieces together. We interlink digital intelligence with physical security assessment and deliver a coherent, cleanly documented overall picture for lawyers and authorities.

Against anonymous accounts, a screenshot is not enough. We investigate cross-connections and deliver:

The right information at the right time to the right place.

So that a criminal complaint becomes an investigation.

We do not promise to deliver solid findings on every perpetrator - no one can seriously claim that. What we do promise: all traces are brought together, as far as open sources allow, so that prosecutors and police can put the case on the right track immediately. And in the proceedings it becomes visible that you did not treat your digital security as an afterthought.

Talk in confidence

Standards & Compliance

DIN SPEC 14027

Structured research to a documented standard

ISO 18788

Processes aligned with the standard

GDPR · BDSG

Data minimisation & documented deletion concepts

Tresorit · PGP

Secure data room & PGP

NDA · DPA

Contractually secured (NDA & DPA)

Behind every mandate stands a concrete situation.

Whether professional, club or player agent - everything begins with a passion for the game. Visibility opens up a lot: income, reach, a brand of your own. But it also makes you vulnerable - to hate, threats and targeted defamation.

Why professional football is different

One click deletes or blocks the account. Not the crime.

Anyone in professional football does not have one channel through which people can reach them. They have dozens - visible and invisible. That is exactly what makes the threat architecture of this field unique.

Via the environment

More than their own account

Whoever wants to reach a player does not need their DMs. They comment under the weekend match report, write under club posts, or go through the accounts of partners, siblings, parents. Families have profiles of their own - and they belong in the protection picture.

Via direct contact

A direct line - for the wrong people too

Social media is not just a channel for hate. It is a direct line of communication to players - fascinating for fans, and equally for people with other intentions. A harmless DM can be the start of a long-term manipulation strategy. Recognisable only if you can read the patterns.

In everyday offline life

Normal life, amplified

Players lead normal daily lives - training, shopping, taking the kids to school, meeting friends at a restaurant. Fame makes that daily life predictable. Anyone who knows routines, neighbourhoods or favourite places holds a blueprint to a private life. Openings arise not from incidents, but from predictability.

For player agents & clubs

Online attacks are serious. They become truly dangerous when the means and methods to investigate them are missing.

Player agents and clubs that cannot demonstrate documented protective measures face potential personal liability with their private assets if things go wrong.

A concrete case

The address ends up in the commercial register.
The land register lists the property under a real name.
A sponsorship deal runs through the private address.
A photo on social media reveals more than intended.

Each of these points is manageable on its own. Together they form a full picture: home, financial situation, daily routine, personal environment. Anyone who can read it has options - for blackmail, physical escalation or targeted reputational damage. A digital exposure check is not bureaucratic overhead. It is part of the threat architecture.

You have legal counsel already - often you or your agents are lawyers yourselves. That is exactly where that strength lies: in the legal processing and use of robust findings. What comes before that - operational investigation, identifying perpetrators, securing evidence early - is a different discipline and rarely part of the in-house toolkit. Building a protective shield - comparable to a small corporate security department - is often left to chance.

But security is not chance. It is a standard - built on clear norms (DIN/ISO) and delivered by practitioners.

Responsibility

When your client is exposed

…you as their agent may share responsibility for ensuring professional security was procured. Without a documented risk assessment, an accusation of breached duty can arise - regardless of good intentions.

Liability risk

Possible personal liability with private assets

Director and agent liability can apply where neglect of protective measures is demonstrable. A D&O policy may not pay out in cases of documented negligence.

Solution

Documented duty of care - your proof when it matters

Documentation according to DIN SPEC 14027, guided by ISO 18788. If things go wrong, the record shows: "We acted in line with the current state of the art."

Also for clubs with in-house security

Build or buy? We are the product you can buy.

Building a monitoring system in-house means months of IT setup, licences, integrations and staff training - plus ongoing maintenance and vendor risk. We deliver the same result ready-made.

Build · in-house

Build your own system

✗6-12 months of implementation
✗Licences, integrations, maintenance
✗Hire and train internal staff
✗IT risk: vendors, updates, data leaks

Buy · We.Protect.Football.

Buy the finished product

✓Ready to use immediately, no IT project
✓Alerts and dossiers as a delivery
✓No interface into internal systems
✓No IT risk - handover via data room

This also holds for clubs with their own security department: we deliver what is hard or slow to build internally - continuous monitoring, OSINT investigation, robust preparation. You receive a product, not an IT project.

And should a case go to court: you do not have to disclose your own systems. You hand over documents from an external provider as evidence - a clean separation, no exposure of internal infrastructure.

Talk in confidence

The difference

The gap between the internet and law enforcement. We close it.

We do not want to be the police. We prepare cases so that law enforcement can act in the first place - thorough, documented, handover-ready.

Reality 01

16 state police forces. Plus the federal level.

Policing in Germany is federal. Different laws, different staffing, different technical capabilities, different capacity - depending on the state and the local office.

Reality 02

Scarce staffing for online cases

The assumption that the police will automatically investigate everything because the law exists is a fallacy. Specialists for anonymous accounts, OSINT cross-connections and escalation patterns are rare - and overstretched.

Reality 03

Developments go unwatched

Authorities respond to criminal complaints - they do not preventively watch how situations develop online. Escalations, changes in pattern, precursor and follow-up activity stay invisible until it is too late.

Between an online incident and an official case file lies a gap - one that neither your own lawyer nor the police can close with their own means. Handing over a thoroughly investigated, properly prepared case can significantly improve the prospects.

What happens after a threat?

Without We.Protect.Football.

✕A screenshot is taken

✕You must contact the police office yourself

✕Online investigators stretched thin

✕Account deleted - trail gone

✕Unfamiliar with official language - the case fizzles out

✕Proceedings dropped for lack of evidence

With We.Protect.Football.

✓Continuous monitoring · prompt notification

✓In-depth OSINT investigation runs in parallel

✓First situation picture within 48-72h · dossier within days

✓Handover to the authorities · follow-up delivery of further leads

✓We speak the language of the authorities - handover-ready for you or your (media) lawyer

✓A robust basis the authorities can work with

Contact

Let us talk.

Confidential. Open-ended. One call clarifies whether we are the right fit for you. If not, we will tell you.

Talk in confidence →