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Multi-club ownership concerns Uefa

Uefa has published its in depth annual report on the European football landscape: https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/027e-174740f39cc6-d205dd2e86bf-1000/ecfl_bm_report_2022_high_resolution_.pdf

It notes, 'A combination of macroeconomic factors and global investment trends has led to a sharp increase in multi-club investment and ownership in the last few years. At the end of 2022, the UEFA Intelligence Centre identified more than 180 clubs worldwide that were part of a multi-club investment structure, compared with less than 100 clubs four years ago and less than 40 in 2012.

 After a slight weakening of growth in 2020 on account of the pandemic, multi-club investment has increased strongly further in the last couple of years, making it one of the most notable trends in football investment

The rise of multi-club investment has the potential to pose a material threat to the integrity of European club competitions, with a growing risk of seeing two clubs with the same owner or investor facing each other on the pitch.

This trend is being fuelled predominantly by US-based investors, with 27 multi-club investment groups (a third of the total number) originating in the United States. The pace at which US investors have taken over clubs using multi-club structures has accelerated strongly in the last two years, increasing from less than five investments per year before 2019 to more than 15 in 2021 and 2022. 

This surge in private capital investment can be seen in the growing number of investment funds involved in football transactions. This has the potential to accelerate further in the coming months, with many investors racing to invest in clubs that are perceived to be undervalued assets with strong and steady growth prospects. These groups and funds are likely to invest in multiple teams across several different leagues.

The growth in multi-club investment has the potential to distort transfer activity, with an increasing percentage of transfers being executed within multi-club investment groups at prices that suit investors, rather than at fair values, to the detriment of trainer clubs (which receive less compensation in the form of solidarity payments).

Transfers within multi-club structures consist mostly of loans and ‘free transfers’, so they represent a very small share of the overall transfer market by value.   With the growth of cross-investment structures, some football investors may now exert control over clubs spanning a cumulative total of a few hundred registered players. The UEFA Intelligence Centre estimates that more than 6,500 players worldwide are registered with clubs belonging to a cross-investment structure.'

US businessman John Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings acquired French team Olympique Lyonnais in December for €800mn but also owns Brazil’s Botafogo, Belgian tier-two side Molenbeek and a 40 per cent stake in English Premier League team Crystal Palace. Miami-based 777 Partners, meanwhile, owns Genoa, Standard Liège, Red Star FC in Paris and the Rio club Vasco da Gama, as well as minority stakes in teams including Spain’s Sevilla.

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