Picture this: You're working on a time-sensitive case. Your target is a young man, likely still living with his parents. Traditional databases have come up empty – no voter registration, no utility bills, no credit history. You're running out of leads, and the clock is ticking.

Sound familiar? This scenario plays out frequently for OSINT practitioners. The abundance of publicly available information doesn’t always mean that every subject will be easy to locate, especially for those who haven't yet established an independent paper trail.

So how can OSINT practitioners pivot when this scenario occurs? Is there a vast, largely untapped reservoir of data that could provide key data on those most likely to commit crime, males aged between 18 and 25?

Expanding the Playing Field

Enter Public Insight’s latest innovation for locating individuals: the Football Clubs module.

While Cradle was built to collate publicly available information from the best publicly and commercially available UK data sources, we knew there was untapped potential in less obvious places.

Our new Football Clubs module adds an impressive 90,000 records from approximately 2,000 leagues across the UK. This expansion isn't just about adding more numbers to our database – it's about providing a new lens through which to view and solve complex investigative puzzles.

In this post, we'll explore how this seemingly niche dataset can help turn dead ends into breakthrough leads.

Why Football Data Matters in OSINT

At first glance, the connection between football club affiliations and OSINT investigations might not be immediately apparent. However, this data can be a game-changer in several scenarios:

1. Locating Elusive Individuals

One of the most significant challenges in OSINT investigations is locating individuals who may not have a strong digital presence or whose address information is outdated. This is particularly true for younger males who might still be living with their parents and, therefore, are unlikely to have registered to vote, formed a business, requested planning permission, or filed for bankruptcy.

Football club affiliations can provide a crucial geographic anchor. Most players tend to join teams close to their homes, especially at the local and amateur levels. By identifying that their subject plays for a football team, investigators can narrow down their likely area of residence, even without a specific address.

2. Predicting Movements and Schedules

When trying to make contact with an individual or determine when they will be somewhere, knowing the football team they play for can be invaluable. It provides:

• Regular locations: Practice grounds and home game venues become potential interception points.
• Predictable schedules: Match fixtures and training sessions offer time-specific opportunities for observation or contact.
• Travel patterns: Away games can indicate possible travel routes and destinations.

This information can be crucial for police forces planning to make an arrest or for private investigators attempting to conduct surveillance or serve legal documents.

3. Building a More Comprehensive Profile

Context is king when building a subject profile. The more we know about a criminal’s life and activities, the better we can understand their connections, habits, and potential motives. Football club affiliation adds another layer to this profile:

• Social connections: Teammates and club members represent a network of associates.
• Character assessment: Participation in team sports can offer insights into an individual's personality, commitment, and social behaviour.

4. Corroborating Other Information

Verification is crucial when making decisions based on internet investigations. Football club data can serve as an additional point of corroboration for other pieces of information:

• Confirming locations: If other sources suggest an individual lives in a particular area, their football team can support or challenge this.
• Verifying identities: In cases of common names, football teams can help distinguish between individuals.
• Supporting timelines: Match records can provide concrete dates and locations to flesh out an individual's timeline of activities.

5. Identifying Potential Witnesses or Sources

In some online investigations, the goal isn't just to locate a specific individual but to build a broader understanding of a situation or event. Football club data can help identify potential witnesses or sources of information:

• Teammates or opponents who may have relevant information.
• Club officials or coaches who might have insights into an individual's behaviour or circumstances.
• Fans who may have been present at specific matches.

6. Uncovering Potential Conflicts of Interest

In investigations involving financial matters or public figures, sports club affiliations could reveal potential conflicts of interest:

• Business relationships between club sponsors and individuals or businesses under scrutiny.
• Connections between relevant individuals and football clubs that might influence decision-making.
• Financial transactions related to sponsorships that could be relevant to fraud investigations.

The Power of Integration

What makes this new Football Clubs module truly powerful is its seamless integration into the existing Cradle platform. When investigators search for an individual, they'll now see football club affiliations alongside other crucial data points, including electoral, business, insolvency, and planning records. This comprehensive view allows for more effective and efficient analysis.

Building on the data provided by the Football Club module, investigators can also:

• Map match locations in relation to other known addresses, like homes and offence sites
• Cross-reference match schedules with other timeline data
• Explore connections between team members and other individuals of interest

Looking Ahead

Integrating the Football Clubs module into Cradle represents our commitment to providing OSINT practitioners with the most comprehensive location data available, even when a street address isn’t possible. By thinking outside the box and recognising the investigative value of less commonly used data sources, we're making OSINT easier.

As we continue to expand and refine Cradle's capabilities, we remain focused on our core mission: enabling effective and efficient investigations by finding every possible indication of a location for UK entities.

Cradle automatically finds addresses connected to people and businesses from over 30 million publicly available data points. Sign up for a trial today at https://cradle.publicinsights.uk/accounts/signup/.