Soccer-Snoop Dogg swaps West Coast beats for Welsh dreams in Swansea investment
(Reuters) -American rapper and producer Snoop Dogg has become an investor with Welsh side Swansea City, the Championship club said on Thursday, with the songwriter joining Croatian midfielder Luka Modric as a co-owner.
The news comes just days after Snoop Dogg helped launch Swansea's new home jersey which had fuelled speculation that the hip-hop artist would have an even bigger involvement with the club.
"My love of football is well known, but it feels special to me that I make my move into club ownership with Swansea City," Snoop Dogg said on the club's website.
"The story of the club and the area really struck a chord with me. This is a proud, working class city and club. An underdog that bites back, just like me."
In April, Modric joined American investors Andy Coleman, Brett Cravatt, Nigel Morris and Jason Cohen in the Swansea ownership structure, and the club will hope that the latest investor can help boost their global standing.
Snoop Dogg may have arrived on the scene asking 'Who am I? (What's My Name?), but since then the 53-year-old has become one of the biggest names in the music world.
"Snoop's colossal global fanbase and audience will certainly help us do that," Swansea's ownership group said.
"He has made clear to us throughout this process just how excited he is at the prospect of joining the club.
"Snoop has openly shared his love of football and his desire to be involved in the game, and we expect his involvement to support us putting as competitive a team as possible out on the field."
Snoop Dogg and Modric join the club as they look to come through financial difficulties after they posted a pre-tax loss of 15.2 million pounds ($20.39 million) in the latest financial year.
Swansea will be joined in English football's second tier next season by fellow Welsh club Wrexham, who have risen from the doldrums of the National League under the ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham have risen to prominence under their Hollywood owners, and their Welcome to Wrexham TV series has brought them to a global audience, and perhaps Swansea may consider making a 'Doggumentary' of their own.
($1 = 0.7455 pounds)
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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