The Political Economy of Football V2

The row between Ares Management and John Textor has escalated to the next level. The private capital group filed an application in London’s High Court to appoint administrators to Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited, which holds a majority stake in Eagle Football Group, the owner of Lyon, as well as clubs in Belgium and Brazil. Eagle is more than a test case for multi-club ownership in football. It is a coming together of sport and institutional capital. The outcome will be closely watched. Private capital firm Ares has appointed administrators to the owner of Olympique Lyonnais after it defaulted on its debts, in a move that puts the future of one of France’s leading football clubs in doubt. Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited holds a majority stake in Eagle Football Group, the owner of Lyon. Eagle Bidco, which also holds controlling stakes in Brazilian football club Botafago and Belgian team RWDM Brussels, is owned by US businessman and prolific football investor John T...

Lyon will remain in Ligue 1 next season after winning their appeal over the relegation imposed upon them by the body which oversees the finances of French football teams, the club confirmed in a statement. The decision means Lyon will maintain their top-flight status, which they have retained since the 1988-89 season. Lyon finished the 2024-25 Ligue 1 campaign in sixth, making the Europa League alongside fifth-place Lille. Their qualification raised uncertainty over Palace’s participation in the European competition next season following their maiden FA Cup triumph, due to multi-club ownership rules — relating to Textor’s Eagle Football’s involvement in both clubs — and Lyon’s superior league placement giving them priority in participating. UEFA had postponed its decision on Palace’s place in the Europa League until after the decision on Lyon’s relegation and there has been no update yet from European football’s governing body. If Palace are barred from the competition, Notting...

Last week the DNCG, the French football financial watchdog, bared its teeth and confirmed the relegation of Olympique Lyonnais to Ligue 2. On the one hand, this was a huge shock, given that Lyon are one of the most storied clubs in France; on the other hand, given the various financial issues that have arisen since American businessman John Textor took over the club in December 2022, it did not come completely out of the blue. Lyon’s plight seems almost unthinkable, when you consider that they won seven consecutive league titles in the early 2000s. Those heady heights are a distant memory these days, but they still finished sixth in Ligue 1 in the last two seasons. When Textor bought a controlling stake in Lyon in December 2022 at a valuation of €884m, this was the largest takeover in the history of French football, though it was largely funded by “other people’s money”, as provided by US investment firms Ares Management and Iconic Sports Management. His share is now up to around...

Normally reliable French sources are reporting that John Textor sold his 45 per cent stake in Cryst al Palace yesterday, clearing the way for the Eagles to claim their place in the Europa League:  https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2025/lyon-owner-john-textor-completes-sale-of-his-45-share-of-crystal-palace/

Crystal Palace’s Europa League place could hinge on whether Uefa decides to allow the French club Lyon to take part in the competition next season. Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) disqualified Lyon — owned by the Palace shareholder John Textor — from European competitions in December but allowed them to continue after the club met certain demands. Manchester United eliminated them from the Europa League at the quarter-final stage. However, Lyon are being “carefully monitored” by the CFCB and if they are deemed to be in breach of a settlement agreement they could be disqualified from next season’s Europa League. That should leave Palace, who qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup, in the clear in relation to Uefa’s multiclub ownership rules, which obliged sister clubs to set up separate ownership structures before March 1 if they hoped to play in the same competition next season. Rival clubs such as Nottingham Forest and Palace rivals Brighto...

Real Madrid became the first football club to generate over €1 billion in revenue during the 2023/24 season and are at the top of the 2025 Money League. The completion of renovations works to the Bernabéu Stadium catalysed the growth of matchday revenues to €248m in 2023/24, a 103% uplift on the previous year. The increase was realised predominantly on account of the marketing of Personal Seat Licenses, which provided an uplift of c.€76m, as well as the sale of new VIP seats and the increased capacity of the stadium from December 2023. The club also reported a 20% increase in commercial revenue (from €403m to €482m), boosted by increased merchandise and new sleeve sponsorship.  Manchester City remained the highest revenue generating English club, with revenue of €838m. The gap between the top-two Money League clubs in 2023/24 was €208m, the highest on record (previous record: €84m in 2018/19).  Several clubs identified the impact of infrastructure investments as a key dr...

Hours after Olympique Lyonnais was barred from signing players and provisionally demoted to the second tier of French football due to its financial difficulties, owner John Textor sought to reassure fans that all was well.  “This is not a club in trouble”, the American entrepreneur said at a press conference, pointing to a range of planned fundraising initiatives from across his network of football clubs. “Whatever was broken about our finances has already been fixed, and we don’t need help,” Textor insisted, as one of the biggest clubs in France was embroiled in a fight with national regulators that is testing the limits of the multiclub model now pervasive across football. More than 300 teams globally, including 13 per cent of those overseen by Uefa, are now part of such multiclub groups, according to figures from the organisation, which governs the sport in Europe. There were fewer than 40 in 2012. The multiclub template has been adopted by owners including by Abu Dhabi-owned ...

French football club Olympique Lyonnais has warned that any major delay or failure to raise additional funds could threaten its ability to continue as a going concern, less than two years after it was bought by a US businessman in a deal largely financed by investment group Ares. Eagle Football Group (EFG), the Euronext-listed entity that houses Lyon, said late on Wednesday that any “material delay” or “non-fulfilment” of a series of planned cash injections could raise “issues” with its status as a going concern. The company, part of a football empire built by US tech entrepreneur John Textor, said its auditors were considering issuing a qualified opinion on its accounts, after being unable to assess the “reasonableness” of several assumptions. The EFG board said it had prepared its financial statements on a going concern basis based on a set of expectations, including that the company would receive up to €40mn from the planned sale of Textor’s stake in Premier League club Crystal Pa...

French top-flight outfit Olympique Lyonnais hope to raise €300 million (US$316.36 million) from the bond market and will sell some of their assets as the club’s US owner John Textor attempts to reorganise their finances. Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings  completed the takeover  of Lyon at the end of last year, with the club valued at €884 million (US$932.21 million), by far the highest price ever paid for a French team and part of a wave of US investment into European football.   The deal, backed by US private equity firm Ares Management, made the Ligue 1 team the fourth to be affiliated with Eagle Football, joining  Premier League  side  Crystal Palace , Brazilian outfit Botafogo and Belgian team RWD Molenbeek. The US businessman told the  Financial Times  that he was currently occupied with “paring off non-core assets to focus on football”, believing Lyon to be “way too heavy on physical assets”.   ”. He added that the money genera...

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 ...

John Textor, the man fronting the €800mn takeover of French football club Olympique Lyonnais, is betting he can solve football’s money problem. “Unfortunately, football is very much about money,” Textor told journalists this week. With a background in technology, Textor thinks football clubs can generate revenues from new sources aside from ticket and merchandise sales, broadcast deals and sponsorships. But it is his network of clubs — he controls Belgian side  RWD Molenbeek , Brazil’s  Botafogo , and a 40 per cent share of  Crystal Palace   — that could be critical to finding an edge. While he’s visited Palace’s first-team training facilities a handful of times, Textor says he’s been to the youth academy on 50 separate occasions. “That really tells you what my interests are, I love the youth development side of the sport,” he said. “What I like about Eagle Football and our strategy is that we are attempting to create a family of highly collabo...

The tireless Swiss Ramble has been spending the weekend analysing the accounts of Olynpique Lyonnais.  Many clubs throughout Europe have become increasingly reliant on player sales as a source of revenue, but these can be volatile.   However, OL have done better than most and appear to have a good strategy.   Another important point to emerge is how far Ligue 1 lags behind the other top five European leagues.  PSG are, of course, an exception to the rule. Due to a combination of COVID and no European competition, the pre-tax loss increased from €36m to €109m, as revenue fell €63m (35%) from €181m to €118m and profit on player sales dropped €38m from €83m to €45m. After four consecutive years of profits, OL have now reported losses two years in a row, amounting to €145m (2019/20 €26m and 2020/21 €109m). The loss after tax is by no means the largest in Europe. In fact, it is much lower than Inter €246m, Juventus €210m, Roma €185m and especially Barcelona €4...

The authoritative Swiss Ramble reviews the 2019/20 accounts of Olympique Lyonnais.   Because of the effects of Covid-19 they swung from €8m pre-tax profit to €36m loss, as revenue fell €40m (18%) from €221m to €181m, though partly offset by €13m government aid and profit on player sales rising €6m to €83m. Also adversely impacted by €25m increase in costs. R evenue had risen €42m (19%) to record levels in the first nine months of 2019/20, but it fell off a cliff in the last three months. Club estimates COVID revenue impact as €100m: €50m operating revenue and €50m player sales, as transfer window shifted to 2020/21. Operating loss from COVID estimated as €58m, as €100m revenue reduction (match day €25m, broadcasting €6m, commercial €18m, player sales €50m) was partly offset by €42m cost savings (wages €21m, other expenses €21m. In the last full season for Ligue 1 clubs, the club's profit before tax of €8m was third best in France, only surpassed by Paris Saint-Germain €32m an...

Olympique Lyonnais has been hit hard by Covid-19.   A profit of over €6m in 2018/19 became a loss of €36.5m in 2019/20:  https://nairametrics.com/2020/10/07/football-lyon-lost-e36-5-in-the-2019-20-financial-year/ The club remains confident that its 'full entertainment' growth strategy will deliver positive results in the longer run.

Barcelona have reached the top of the Money League for the first time ever and at the same time become the first club to break the €800m barrier, generating revenue of €840.8m. The top 20 highest earning football clubs for the 2018/19 season recorded combined revenues of €9.3bn (up 11 per cent), a new record. Manchester United (€711.5m) are in third but are at risk of losing their position as the Premier League’s highest revenue generating club for the first time in next year’s edition of the Money League. Tottenham Hotspur are eighth, the club’s highest ever position, and have overtaken Arsenal and Chelsea to become London’s highest revenue generating club for the first time since 1996/97. The composition of the top 20 overall remains relatively stable with only two new entrants to the Money League – Olympique Lyonnais ranked 17th (up from 28th) and Napoli ranked 20th (up from 21st). To them that hath shall be given.