A GROWING trend in global football is groups of investors buying up not just one but several teams in different leagues or countries. Some 289 teams are now part of multiclub groupings, compared to 242 at the end of last year, according to sports consultancy CIES, also known as Centre International d’Etude du Sport. A recent policy change might open the door to bigger groupings. Proponents of multiclub ownership cheer the long-term benefits of cost synergies, the sharing of talented players and the potential to strike more lucrative sponsorship deals. Fan groups and other critics say there’s a darker side to the story.

1. What’s the recent change to multiclub ownership?

Uefa, the regulator for Europe’s continent-wide football competitions, ruled in July that three European clubs – Aston Villa FC, Brighton & Hove Albion FC and AC Milan, which have interests in Vitoria Sport Clube, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and Toulouse, respectively – will be allowed to play in its competitions this season. Uefa said the teams and their related investors had taken steps to safeguard their independence from each other. For years, Uefa had generally prohibited teams with the same owner from playing against each other in competitions such as the Champions League and Europa League, making multiclub owners focus on only one standout team. Uefa’s change of heart may open the door to groups that might comprise more than one top European club. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which already owns the English Premier League’s Newcastle United FC (which will this season play in the Champions League) as well as four of the largest teams in the Saudi Pro League, is said to be considering buying another top football club in Europe.

2. What’s the problem with multiclub ownership?

There are worries about the integrity of competitions as teams owned by the same investors play each other. Some fans of clubs that become part of a multiclub grouping object to their team becoming a feeder club for a more powerful team in the grouping. Also, multiclub groupings can provide a way around football’s Financial Fair Play rules, which attempt to limit club spending on player transfers and wages by tying it to revenue.

3. How does multiclub ownership affect Financial Fair Play?

Uefa enacted rules in 2011 to keep any football club from spending more than it earns. Multiclub ownership creates opportunities to fudge compliance. Here’s a hypothetical: A multiclub group owns Club A, which is subject to Uefa spending rules, and Club B, which is not. Club A sells a player to Club B at an inflated price to boost its revenue and spending power. While some leagues monitor this kind of transaction, it can be tricky to say what is and what isn’t an inflated price in a market where players regularly change hands for tens of millions of US dollars. The Premier League’s Richard Masters said in a BBC interview that his organisation will monitor such “associated party transactions” to ensure that transfers are done at “fair value.”

4. What happens when teams with common ownership play each other?

It has only happened once, and until the recent ruling that seemed to be a one-off exception. RB Leipzig played Red Bull Salzburg in 2018, despite both clubs being controlled by energy drink maker Red Bull GmbH. The two teams managed to persuade Uefa that they were separate entities, with personnel focusing on one side or the other. Salzburg won the two matches against Leipzig, 3-2 and 1-0.

5. Who owns multiple football clubs?

Since striking a deal for Italy’s Genoa Cricket and Football Club in 2021, Miami-based 777, led by Steven Pasko and Josh Wander, has gone on to invest in Paris-based Red Star FC, Belgium’s Standard Liège, Vasco da Gama in Brazil, Spain’s Sevilla FC and Melbourne Victory FC in Australia. More recently, it took a majority stake in German Bundesliga team Hertha BSC and was weighing an investment in Premier League club Everton FC. Other multiclub owners include Paul Conway’s Pacific Media Group, John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings LLC, Abu Dhabi’s City Football Group Ltd. and David Blitzer’s Bolt Holdings. Premier League team Chelsea FC’s US owners are also building a multiclub stable.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 2 pm

Lifestyle

Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.

Sign Up

6. Have any deals failed?

An attempt by the Abu Dhabi-backed City Football Group to bring the Dutch team NAC Breda into its fold was thwarted by a supporters’ group that held shares. “We were afraid that we were going to lose the club’s identity,” Arjan van Toor, founder of the supporter group B-Side Rats told Bloomberg last year.

7. When did multiclub ownership begin?

Although informal tie-ups between clubs have often existed, one of the first prominent and formal multiclub models was formed by the English National Investment Company (ENIC), owned by Joe Lewis, the billionaire behind Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur FC. In the late 1990s, ENIC began to acquire stakes in a number of football clubs, including Glasgow Rangers, Slavia Prague, AEK Athens, Vicenza and FC Basel.

8. How do other sports leagues handle this issue?

Football is the main focus of multiclub groups due to the sheer number of available assets. “Football is streaks ahead in what it is able to offer, especially in terms of its ability to attract eyeballs on a group’s branding around the world,” says Joshua Charalambous, partner at the law firm RPC. In cricket, Indian Premier League owners have been acquiring franchises in other leagues around the world that raise the prospect of offering players year-round deals to play across different territories. Says Richard Davies, partner at the law firm Charles Russell Speechlys said: “If multiclub ownership becomes more prevalent in different sports, the regulators of those sports will inevitably look again at their rules.” Major sports leagues in the US don’t allow owners to have a stake in more than one team. Major League Baseball outlawed the practice more than a century ago, for instance. BLOOMBERG