Soccer players and taxes, chapter X: Back in 2022, Adil Rami had already secured a payment from his former club Boavista, and three years later he also wanted to be refunded the tax burden he allegedly incurred as a result. And he failed.
As Emmanuel Macron was praising the French 2018 World Cup winners in the dressing room after their 4-2 final victory over Croatia, Adil Rami caused a laugh. “I would like to thank…” the president had just begun when the center back cheekily interrupted: “…for the taxes.”
A ruling by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber in 2025 also shows that Rami is clearly very aware of the issue.
The Portuguese paid, then the tax authorities demanded a good €40,000.
For some background, we need to go back a few years, to 2022. A year earlier, in July 2021, Rami and Boavista Porto had mutually terminated the Frenchman’s contract with the cash-strapped Portuguese club, which was due to run until 2022, and agreed on a residual payment. However, the club failed to comply. FIFA finally ordered it to pay around €200,000 net plus interest, which Boavista actually did in July 2022 with a transfer of €216,115.74 to the now 40-year-old. In October 2022, the Portuguese tax authorities contacted Rami and demanded €41,519.26 for the 2021 tax year.
The defensive specialist, who had played for AC Milan, Sevilla FC, Olympique Marseille, and Fenerbahce, among others, wanted to sue the Portuguese for this sum, so he turned to FIFA again in October 2024. By this time, Boavista had long since fallen into considerable financial difficulties. The club has since been relegated to the fifth division (!), with chaos clearly reigning under Luxembourg-Spanish businessman Gerard Lopez.
FIFA dismisses defender’s lawsuit
At least the 2001 Portuguese champions were spared from having to pay the former defender’s taxes. This was because the judges of the world governing body felt that Rami had failed to provide evidence that the tax claim was specifically based on the payment made in 2022.
They also considered it questionable that the claim related to the 2021 tax year, but the payment had been ordered in 2022. FIFA dismissed the 1.90-meter man’s lawsuit.