Europol and Bulgarian police, with the aid of 15 countries, as well as UEFA and LaLiga, have successfully dismantled a network distributing illegal sports content to over 22 million users worldwide. They called it "Operation Kratos" and has resulted in 11 people arrested, 29 servers and 270 IPTV devices seized and the closure of 100 domains.
The operation searches also found drugs and weapon, and even €1.6 million worth in cryptocurrency and €40,000 in cash. It took place in the summer 2024 (with the UEFA Euro 2024 and the Paris Olympic Games in the backdrop).
LaLiga, directed by Javier Tebas, has been fierce in the fight against piracy in sports. In a statement, LaLiga said that more than 560 resellers of pirated services were identified. They were distributing over 2,500 TV channels, of movies and TV shows, but also live sport... which are notoriously expensive in many countries.
"Operation Kratos" has been a huge success in the fight against sports piracy, taking down websites to watch sports live without paying. But will it be enough to end piracy altogether? That probably would never happen, but perhaps more people would be willing to watch sports legally if it was free or cheaper: in Spain, if you want to see all major football competitions as well as other minority sports, you would probably have to pay over a hundred euros per month...