Prosecutors take over review of Stevanovic transfer
Belgrade's Higher Public Prosecutor's Office has taken over the case on alleged irregularities in Filip Stevanovic's move from Partizan to Manchester City.
A request for police to gather information about the transfer of Filip Stevanovic from Partizan to Manchester City was sent on July 20, 2021, and according to prosecutors, nobody acted on it. More than five years later, the case sits with the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, whose Special Department for the Suppression of Corruption has asked the Anti-Corruption Service to gather the necessary information on the alleged irregularities surrounding the transfer.
How did the case reach the Higher Prosecutor’s Office?
The case files were delivered to the Higher Prosecutor’s Office on November 9, 2026, from the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade. That case was opened on the basis of an electronic submission dated July 13, 2021, which reported possible irregularities in the transfer.
On July 20, 2021, the First Basic Prosecutor’s Office asked the Interior Ministry (MUP), specifically the Criminal Police Directorate and its Department for the Suppression of Economic Crime, to gather the necessary information. According to a statement from the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, that request was never acted on. For that reason the job has now been given to the Anti-Corruption Service.
What has the Anti-Corruption Service been ordered to do?
According to the statement, the Service is to:
- take over from the Department for the Suppression of Economic Crime any documentation from earlier checks, if there were any
- verify the claims made in the electronic submission
- interview everyone with knowledge of the transfer or involvement in it
- obtain documentation from FK Partizan and the Football Association of Serbia relating to the transfer
- establish how much Partizan was owed from the transfer under the contract and whether that amount was paid in full
Prosecutors also ordered the collection of any other necessary information.
What is known about the transfer itself?
Stevanovic moved from Partizan to Manchester City in January 2021. According to earlier media reports, the transfer was worth about 8 million euros: 6.5 million fixed and 1.5 million in bonuses. The prosecutors’ statement does not confirm those figures.
According to media reports, the Criminal Police Directorate was at Partizan’s premises in early November, checking club documentation. Partizan declined to give RTS any details.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office has so far drawn no conclusions about the responsibility of any individual. The ordered checks are meant to show whether there were irregularities in the transfer and whether Partizan received the money it was owed under the contract.
