Latest news with #multiclubownership
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'We are very hopeful of overturning Uefa's decision'
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has confirmed the club will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) over Uefa's decision to demote Crystal Palace from the Europa League for breaching its multi-club ownership rules. "We are still fighting," Parish told the The Rest Is Football podcast on Wednesday. "There's an appeal process, so we go to Cas, and we're very hopeful. We think we've got great legal arguments. "We don't think this is the right decision by any means. We know, unequivocally, that John [Textor] didn't have decisive influence over the club. "We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it's a fact." Textor is currently in the process of selling his stake in Crystal Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
'We are very hopeful of overturning Uefa's decision'
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has confirmed the club will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) over Uefa's decision to demote Crystal Palace from the Europa League for breaching its multi-club ownership rules."We are still fighting," Parish told the The Rest Is Football, external podcast on Wednesday."There's an appeal process, so we go to Cas, and we're very hopeful. We think we've got great legal arguments."We don't think this is the right decision by any means. We know, unequivocally, that John [Textor] didn't have decisive influence over the club."We know we proved that beyond all reasonable doubt because it's a fact."Textor is currently in the process of selling his stake in Crystal Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Stop blaming loophole-users Man United, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea - getting kicked out of the Europa League is Crystal Palace's fault, writes IAN LADYMAN
Crystal Palace 's tumble from the Europa League before it's even started is a sporting catastrophe that they should have seen coming. That they didn't is overwhelmingly on them. This, in essence, is the London club's own fault. Yes, there are too many shades of grey in UEFA's rules about multi-club ownership. European football's governing body have allowed subjectivity and interpretation to play too great role in this embarrassing shambles.
Daily Mail
15-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Dual-ownership model is here to stay in Scotland, admits SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell has claimed it would make no sense for Scottish football to now discourage dual-ownership models. Previously reluctant to allow parties with stakes in teams playing in other countries to buy into clubs here, the governing body have recently approved a number of such deals. Last year, Bournemouth owner Bill Foley bought up 25 per cent of Hibs for £6million. In May, Hearts shareholders agreed for Brighton owner Tony Bloom to take 29 per cent of their club in return for £10m. Earlier this month, 49ers Enterprises, who own Leeds United, formed part of an American consortium which took control of Rangers. The deals were only able to happen after the SFA gave them a seal of approval, with the trend set to continue. While Maxwell says the SFA will reserve the right to judge each case on its merits in future, he believes the right owners in the right circumstances should now be welcomed with open arms. 'They've not been particularly complicated,' he said of the deals. 'To be honest, we've definitely been more open. Multi-club ownership is here. It's part of football. 'When you look across Europe, the number of clubs that are involved in some multi-club structure is growing by the day. We need to be part of that. Why would you limit that investment? 'It was actually interesting when you start to think through the process. We had dual-interest regulations which meant that, if you're involved in a club, you can't get involved in a Scottish club unless we say yes. 'But someone like a Tony Bloom, for example, that's getting involved in Hearts, he has a track record at Brighton, understands football, has Union Saint-Gilloise, knows other clubs. 'We actually make it harder for him to come into Scottish football than we do for someone who's just sold a company for £10m that's got no understanding of the Scottish game. 'When you actually get into it, you go: 'That probably doesn't make a lot of sense'.' While no Scottish club yet falls into the multi-club model seen at the likes of the City Group, allowing individuals with stakes in other sides to own percentages of clubs here does raise questions over dual ownership. However, with wealthy individuals now buying up shares in teams in different leagues throughout the world, Maxwell believes it's something that must be embraced. 'The good thing is, because the vast majority of clubs (and their shareholders) that have come into Scotland have got other multi-club ownership models, they're used to it,' he said. 'You speak to the guys involved in the Hearts deal and they're very aware of what UEFA need, what they want and how that structure needs to look to make sure we don't get ourselves those problems. 'So, I think it's here. We can't ignore it. Why would you want to step away from it? 'Why would you want to block investment coming into the game if it's going to be good for our clubs? 'The trick is the club need to then go and spend that money as wisely as possible. 'We don't get involved in that bit. But, from a broad perspective, there's definitely a willingness to look at anything that generates more investment into Scotland.' The issue of dual and multi-club ownership has been given greater prominence in the past week due to Crystal Palace's situation. The FA Cup winners are battling to satisfy UEFA that there's no impediment to them playing in the Europa League. The club are owner by businessman John Textor - who also has a stake in French side Lyon - and apparently didn't clear any potential European involvement before the March deadline. But Maxwell is adamant that any Scottish side's participation in European competition would have to be set in stone before a change of ownership is waved through. 'Our board, we're looking at it from two perspectives,' he said. 'Does it grow and develop the game? 'Will it generate financial investment into Scottish football? Does it give us an integrity issue? 'The integrity issue falls away because that would only happen if it was two Scottish teams playing under our jurisdiction, which it's not. 'The jurisdictional matter becomes a UEFA point and we've been clear in all the dual interests, all the multi-club investment models that we've done. 'If, similar to a Crystal Palace scenario at the moment, there's a question mark about which one's going to play in Europe, it can't be the Scottish club that's the unintended consequence or has to step aside from European competition.'
New York Times
04-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Down to Business: Multi-club ownership is growing in women's soccer, but ‘execution is everything'
In today's increasingly high-stakes world of sports investment, a handful of women's soccer investors aren't betting on one team, they're building empires. The same multi-club ownership (MCO) model that dominates men's soccer is not-so-quietly being replicated in women's soccer. However, the profiles of those backing women's teams are vastly different: a mix of experienced operators with deep pockets that have sports acumen and conviction that the women's game is not charity, but good business — something that is still relatively rare in sports ownership circles. Advertisement Michele Kang, one of the National Women's Soccer League's (NWSL) most powerful figures, has led the way in going global. She owns OL Lyonnes, widely considered the most accomplished women's soccer team in Europe, as well as the Washington Spirit in the U.S. and London City Lionesses, which was recently promoted to the English Women's Super League (WSL). In 2024, Kang folded all three teams under her Kynisca Sports International, a multi-team global women's soccer organization. 'We will provide opportunities for girls and women worldwide to access high-level sport, reach their potential under the best conditions, and play football in the clubs of the global elite,' she said in a statement at the time. Out of her three clubs, only the Spirit have shown profits, but Kang is not stopping anytime soon. She said she is looking into buying more clubs around the world to add to her multi-club portfolio. 'Women's soccer around the world needs investment,' Kang told ESPN right before closing the OL deal in 2023. 'It's not just the U.S. For us to take women's soccer to the next level — Europe, Asia, South America, Latin America — they all need to come up. I wanted to accelerate that trend.' She is also not the only NWSL operator who is betting big on global MCO. Earlier this month, Kansas City Current owners Angie and Chris Long announced they are expanding their footprint in women's soccer by acquiring Denmark's HB Køge Women, a top-flight women's soccer club competing in the country's highest division. 'I think the way to view this investment is evolutionary,' Chris Long told me when I asked him if owning multiple clubs was something they thought of from the beginning. 'It's just like in any investment business, you're always looking for great investments.' Elsewhere, Monarch Collective, led by managing partner Kara Nortman, holds minority stakes across several women's teams, including Angel City FC, the San Diego Wave, and the newly launched Boston Legacy FC in the NWSL. However, Nortman does not consider her model to be MCO. Advertisement Nortman's fund takes a more nuanced approach when it comes to investing in multiple teams. Rather than acquiring full control, Monarch holds minority stakes across several women's teams. It's a strategy that emphasizes influence and alignment over consolidation, allowing for strategic support while preserving each club's unique identity. 'We do not consider ourselves in multi-club ownership in the multi-club model. We invest in multiple clubs, which is different,' Nortman told The Athletic over Zoom. 'Multi-club philosophy is shared services, shared identity, shared sponsorships, etc, whereas what we look at is: how do we add hands-on value, or invest in a way that adds value to each individual club in a unique way.' According to Nortman, best practices in club operations often overlap between men's and women's sports. Roughly 80 percent of what drives success is universal: foundational strategies that define high performance. The key is knowing what excellence looks like, holding the bar there, and being prepared to adjust when challenges arise. 'But the remaining 20 percent is where the real magic happens — the part that's deeply specific to the club, the sport, and the local market,' Nortman said. 'That's why each club must be treated as its own distinct entity, with its own identity and tailored approach, rather than forced into a one-size-fits-all model.' While the strategy is emerging as a smart play on the women's side, it remains a controversial and often criticized approach on the men's side, where concerns about competitive integrity, talent hoarding, and diluted club identity continue to stir debate. Multi-club ownership isn't new. Groups like Abu Dhabi-based City Football Group (CFG), which owns sports clubs on four continents, including Premier League's Manchester City, as well as Red Bull, which owns teams in Germany, Austria, the U.S., France and Brazil have turned the model into a finely tuned machine in the men's game. They've created economies of scale, streamlining player development across continents. Kang has been open about the negative connotations of multi-club on the men's side but she said she believes on the women's side, MCO is a 'necessity, not a luxury, or greed.' She also said clubs will benefit from sharing resources, but she isn't going to sacrifice one team to make another team successful. Advertisement 'Absolutely not. Our goal is to make every team the champion in each of their leagues,' she told Forbes last year. On Monday, Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez was named the next head coach of OL Lyonnes in France after just one year in Washington, casting doubt on Kang's earlier statements as she shuffled her best coach off one team and on to the next. Sources — speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect their positions — told The Athletic last week that this was not planned, but rather something that came about after Lyonnes coach Joe Montemurro made clear his intentions to lead Australia. '(Multi-club model) is a great idea, but like all great ideas, execution is everything,' said Assia Grazioli-Venier, founding partner at Muse Capital and an early investor in NWSL's Washington Spirit. 'What we're seeing on the women's side is that some of these ownership groups are led by former operators — people who've built businesses, scaled brands, and navigated complex systems before stepping into sports. They're not just financiers; they're builders first.' She is not wrong. Abu Dhabi-based CFG, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns multiple Saudi soccer clubs and Newcastle United in England, and the failed 777 Partners, which at one point owned Genoa in Italy, Vasco de Gama in Brazil, Standard Liege in Belgium, Red Star F.C. in France, Bundesliga's Hertha BSC and minority stakes in Sevilla in Spain and Melbourne Victory in Australia, all came into the game from a strict investment perspective. 'We have a unique opportunity to learn from men's sports, especially from those investing across multiple teams. It's a chance to examine how best practices are shared, how shared services are thoughtfully implemented, and how emotional intelligence is integrated with operational excellence to maximize impact,' Nortman said. 'There are solid models to reference, but we also have the freedom to build something more intentional — evolving gradually and authentically in a way that truly reflects the values of women's sports.' The difference to people like Kang and the Longs is that they are heavily ingrained in the operational side of their clubs. Advertisement When Kang paid $35 million for the Spirit in 2022, people thought she was wildly overpaying, an industry insider told me. The 66-year-old from South Korea entered women's soccer in 2020, first as a minority owner of the Spirit. Following a two-year battle to gain control of the club, she acquired the majority stake of the franchise from co-owners Steve Baldwin and Bill Lynch. NWSL was still selling franchises for well under $10 million and many investors were hesitant to allocate funds to women's sports assets. Without concrete data on the fanbase, viewership, and sponsorship dollars, as an experienced investor, Kang was not oblivious to these facts. But she still bought her first club. Just two years after Kang bought the Spirit, San Diego Wave was sold for $113 million, more than three times what Kang paid. The Longs carved out their new Danish women's club from the men's operation, similar to what Kang did with OL Lyonnais Féminin (now branded OL Lyonnes) when she separated the women's side from the men's team in 2023, and by Chelsea, which transferred ownership of its women's squad to affiliated company BlueCo earlier this year. With a passionate fanbase, a strong soccer foundation, and major growth potential on the business side, the Longs said HB Køge Women had the same core ingredients as the Current. With key revenue streams such as ticketing, merchandise, and sponsorship remaining largely untapped due to limited prior investment, they believe they can bring their experience in operating the most financially successful NWSL club, with the highest revenue within the league last year, according to Sportico's latest valuations, to Europe. And like Kang, they are not going to stop looking for the next club either. 'But only if done the right way.' 'It's important to us that we do it with excellence,' Angie Long explained. 'And to think this offers an opportunity to learn how to first become a multi-club model, and then really build on it.' One thing is clear: the goal is to run the clubs with a focus on off-pitch revenue and on-pitch wins. Another group, Mercury/13, launched in August 2023. It set out with the goal of building a global multi-club women's football platform, but has so far acquired just one team, securing a controlling stake in Italy's FC Como Women in March 2024. Advertisement Before landing in Como, Mercury/13 explored other opportunities, including a potential deal for third-tier English side Lewes FC, but those talks fell through before reaching the finish line. In 2024, the group secured backing from Avenue Sports Fund — the sports investment arm of former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry's Avenue Capital — for an undisclosed amount. Mercury/13 has publicly committed to adding four more clubs to its portfolio by the end of 2026. Why the rush? Because the women's game is living through its hockey-stick growth moment. Global viewership records are being shattered after each big tournament. Sponsors are flocking to meet those eyeballs. Valuations are going up. But unlike the men's side, where investing is almost limited to sovereign wealth funds, on the women's side, there's still room to buy low and build, not just infrastructure but global brands. But it is not a philanthropic hustle either. Investors like Kang, the Longs, Monarch Collective and Mercury/13 are betting that women's soccer is the asset class of the future. 'It remains to be seen if it will be successful,' Grazioli-Venier said. 'But my hunch is they'll do well because they know how to execute on a grand plan and have the operational experience of connecting the right dots to take advantage of that portfolio.'
