Rafael Márquez’s life just became a lot more difficult.
On Wednesday, the United States Treasury Department accused Márquez, the captain of Mexico’s national soccer team, and several businesses connected to him of acting as fronts and holding assets for a major drug trafficking organization. The designation — Márquez was placed on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) list of so-called Specially Designated Nationals — had immediate effects on Marquez personally, among them the freezing of his assets in the United States and a general prohibition on Americans’ having dealings with him.
But according to several lawyers with experience in similar cases, the sanctions also could have a wide-ranging effect on Márquez’s Mexican club team, Atlas; the Mexican soccer federation; marketing partners and sponsors for both organizations; and even FIFA and the United States Soccer Federation, which are working with Mexico’s federation on a bid to be a host of the 2026 World Cup with Canada.