The Spanish police carried out a major operation against ‘sport piracy“, confiscating more than 66,000 imitation football appearances and set of national group jerseys for the Moudial, a total weight of more than 16 tonnes, and carried out 95 arrests in 15 locations.
The company started in April, was held in Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Elche and Denia, with authorities raiding more than 15 locations, including industrial warehouses, dwellings, outdoor markets and storage points associated with courier companies. In the course of the investigations 95 were carried out arrests, while the authorities identified large quantities of products intended for sale through illegal road trade, outdoor markets, electronic platforms and social networks.
🚩Intervenidas más de 16 toneladas de equipaciones de #fútbol falsificadas que iban a distribuirse durante el Mundial de Fútbol 2026
🚔Incautados más de 66.000 camisetas y conjuntos falsificados
👉Valor de venta en mercado de más de 7.000.000💶
🔹Registros: #Madrid,... pic.twitter. com/lzWCGXEEcs— Policía Nacional (@policia) June 17, 2026
The investigation began when the Spanish authorities found an increased influx of imitation sports appearances to the Spanish market. Among the products seized were mainly imitations of the Spanish national official jersey, but also appearances of other national teams and clubs with football players participating in the World Cup.
According to the police, the products had significantly lower quality than the original ones, while their commercial disposal violated industrial property rights and trademarks. The value of the confiscated products is estimated to exceed EUR 2 million on the illegal market, while the total financial loss for rights holders, sports federations and companies whose designs were copied is estimated at more than EUR 7 million.
The operation was carried out within the framework of the EMPACT, the European platform for dealing with criminal threats, coordinated by Europol and Interpol, with the participation of OLAF and EUIPO.
Authorities announced that the investigation remains ongoing and that businesses will continue until the completion of the World Cup.