football players increasingly targeted by home burglaries

Paris-Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his partner were robbed and kidnapped during the night from Thursday to Friday 21 July, at their home in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. The pair were linked and the PSG goalkeeper was slightly injured. In total, nearly €500,000 worth of luxury watches, jewelery and leather goods were stolen.

This new burglary adds to the long list of already victimized PSG players or ex-players. In just five years this is the ninth theft of a Parisian footballer. Among them are former captain Thiago Silva, defender Presnel Kimpenbe and striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who was robbed twice in 2018.

But the black year for Paris Saint-Germain is 2021. Four thefts in all, two of which on the same evening. The facts occurred during a match at the Parc des Princes against Nantes in March 2021. Luxury watches, jewels and money had been stolen from Angel Di Maria, a former PSG player, for damages estimated at almost 500,000 euros.

Other affected clubs

Even violent thefts, as evidenced by that of the night between 20 and 21 July at Donnarumma’s house. But what made a splash was the one with the current Parisian captain, Marquinhos. The father, present in the house with the footballer’s two young daughters, had been hit by thieves.

But PSG are not exactly an exception. This has also been the case with Olympique de Marseille players for a long time. At the start of the year, defender Séhad Kolazinatch joined this long list. Olympique Lyonnais, for its part, was affected by a series of thefts between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. Each time, the damage is estimated at several thousand euros. This is also the case of Lille striker Jonathan Ikoné, the victim of a theft estimated at 250,000 euros.

A growing phenomenon

Even the national championship does not spare itself. Like Nolane Roux, player of the Berrichonne de Chateauroux. Nearly €100,000 worth of his clothes, jewelery and hi-fi equipment were stolen. A total of 22 professional players fell victim to these thefts in France in 2021, according to the Information, intelligence and strategic analysis service on organized crime. That’s nine more than in 2020.

And this phenomenon does not only concern France. During the World Cup in Qatar, for example, Raheem Sterling was the victim of a burglary at his London home.