Avilian Research Labs

Applied research and analysis, built to be checked.

Verified, sourced work on sport governance, labor economics, and public policy — from the applied research division of Cognitive Futures Digital Libraries.

Global Sports Governance & Institutional Power

Who Actually Controls Football's Money — And Why the Answer Isn't "Europe"

How the FIFA Forward Enterprise collapsed — and why the confederation that killed it wasn't the one that needed the money.

Sports Labor Economics

The Money That Never Reaches the Pitch

FIFA sends millions to federations. Almost none of it becomes a player's salary. Here's the gap, in real numbers.

Sports Governance & Accountability

Africa's Football Money Problem Isn't Only External

The accountability record that hands football's wealthiest confederations their easiest argument.

Comparative Institutional Politics

The Reparations Playbook: What Football Can Learn From Britain's Refusal

What Britain's refusal to discuss reparations reveals about who gets to decide when a conversation happens at all.

Athlete Development & Talent Economics

What Actually Produces a Ronaldinho

Not money first. A specific kind of practice, repeated thousands of times.

Global Institutional Political Economy

Fair Process Is How the Powerful Keep What They Already Took

What the IMF's 80-year voting fight teaches us about UEFA's objection to FIFA's money.

Sports Governance & Institutional Leadership

The Man Who Tripled African Football's Money Is Being Tried for Someone Else's Sins

A defense of Gianni Infantino, built entirely on the verified funding record.

Sports Finance & Commercial Strategy

The Case for Selling a Piece of the World Cup

The strongest argument FIFA Forward Enterprise's defenders could make — presented on its own terms.

Labor Economics & Career Development (Zimbabwe)

When Football Becomes a Career: Rethinking the Economics of Talent in Zimbabwe

At what point does football stop being a dream and become an economically rational career?

Education Policy & Athlete Development

Football AND University: Why Zimbabwe Needs the Dual-Career Athlete

Rejecting a false choice that costs young Zimbabweans their futures either way.

Regional Labor Markets & Sports Economics

US$5,000 a Month: The Salary That Could Change Zimbabwean Football

How one verified salary number becomes an entire region's labour market.

More from Avilian Research Labs

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