Spanish Football Club Rejects Claims of Betting on Own Relegation After Kalshi Allegations

Osasuna has publicly defended itself after reports suggested a Spanish team had placed a bet against its own survival in LaLiga. 

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The club confirmed it had taken out a €1.2 million insurance policy that would have paid roughly €6 million if relegation occurred, but insisted this was not gambling. The statement explained the move was a financial safeguard, not a wager, and was intended to protect the club in case of the worst outcome. 

The clarification followed a Semafor report that claimed, “A soccer team bet against itself,” describing how unnamed owners had turned to Kalshi to place a multimillion‑dollar position tied to relegation. 

Osasuna said it wanted to “clarify” its actions after “recent reports,” stressing that the insurance was a legitimate risk‑management tool. The club narrowly avoided relegation despite losing its final match, and now seeks to distance itself from suggestions that its actions amounted to betting against its own success. 

There was a Kalshi trade, but club wasn’t aware

Osasuna explained that its role ended once it signed an insurance policy with Howden, a British insurer. 

From there, the movement of funds passed through other hands. Howden turned to Game Point Capital, a firm that works with professional teams to hedge financial risks, and Game Point then went to Greenlight Commodities to place a position on Kalshi. The amount mirrored the club’s €1.2 million policy, but Osasuna said it had no knowledge of what happened beyond its own contract. 

In a statement to Semafor, the club stressed: “The club’s involvement in this matter was limited to the contracting of that coverage with Howden… Osasuna has no knowledge of, nor participation in, any arrangements that may have been carried out by third parties after the coverage was contracted… Osasuna did not place any bet, did not participate in any prediction market and did not have any direct relationship with Kalshi or any similar platform.”

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The club added that insurance against relegation is a common practice in football, pointing to LaLiga’s own description of such policies as “common instruments” used to guard against financial risks tied to performance. 

Game Point claims insurance policies are common

Game Point’s chief executive Will Hall said insurance against promotion or relegation is not unusual, even if the public rarely hears about it. “No one bats an eye when teams hedge against winning, even though that’s still a financial risk management tool, it’s just on the other side of the outcome for the teams,” he told Front Office Sports. 

He added that while relegation coverage is unique to soccer, his firm also works with many professional and college teams in the U.S. and believes “more teams and leagues should do it.”

Others in the industry shared that view. A longtime investment banker described the practice as “a very common sense thing to do,” while a European club owner said it “happens more than we realize” and praised Osasuna for handling it properly.

Similar policies have surfaced before, including Borussia Dortmund’s reported three‑year insurance against missing Champions League qualification in 2015. 

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