“The Ferrari, the mansion, the yacht, the model wife… and the football club. Buying 11 players plus their accessories is the wish that many billionaires grant themselves with the excuse of being great sports lovers.
This is how a Vanity Fair article portrayed several years ago the reality of an increasingly globalized football, but also dependent on a handful of millionaires of various origins, mainly Russians, Americans and Arab sheikhs.
Although the list of tycoons in the Premier League is extensive, the pioneer was Roman Abramovichwho in 2003 took control of Chelsea for US$185 million today, mainly due to his previous owner, Ken Bates, who had bought him for the symbolic sum of one pound.
But, now that Russian influence in Europe is frowned upon due to the invasion of Ukraine, and Abramovich is in retreat due to his closeness to Vladimir Putin, the owner of Chelsea ceded control of the last champion of the Champions League to a foundation, although It is speculated that he would sell it to a group of investors led by the Swiss Hansjörg Wyss, whose fortune exceeds US$5.5 billion.
According to German media quoted by the sports newspaper As, from Spain, behind the Swiss billionaire there is a consortium from the United States, made up of three businessmen. Wyss is also known for his philanthropic work, being one of the world’s top donors through his charitable foundations with assets of more than $1.6 billion.
To the list of clubs with foreign influence in the English League, Newcastle United was added last year, acquired by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, controlled by Mohamed bin Salmán, the crown prince of that country linked to the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Istanbul.
And although the influence of the tycoons in football has gone beyond the United Kingdom, countries such as Germany have taken the decision to prevent foreign investors from acquiring a majority stake in any club, according to the Goal portal.
“The 50 + 1 rule of the German Bundesliga means that no Russian individual can become the absolute owner of a club,” the media points out, noting that in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France, there are fewer restrictions on foreign investors, as confirms the case of PSG, in Qatari hands.
In a recent article, the PlanetSport portal mentions three Russian oligarchs – less known than Abramovich – who own other European teams. They are:
Maxim Demin, who has owned Bournemouth wholly since 2019. “He initially bought 50% of the team in 2011 and increased it to 100% two years later. He then sold 25% to an investment firm in 2015, before regaining full control in 2019. He was estimated in 2020 to have a net worth of US$1.1bn, with the highlight of his ownership for Bournemouth being promotion to the Premier League in 2015”.
Dmitry Rybolovlev owns AS Monaco, where James Rodríguez and Juan Fernando Quintero played, through a trust in the name of his daughter Ekaterina.
“Rybolovlev, who in 2021 had a net worth of $6.7 billion, bought his stake in the club in December 2011, and in the following decade the team were crowned champions of France after rising from the second division. They have also finished second in Ligue 1 twice, in 2014 and 2018, as well as being runner-up in the Coupe de France in 2021 and the Champions Trophy in 2017 and 2018.
The third is Valeriy Oif, owner of Vitesse Arnhem, an unknown club from the Netherlands, who finished fourth in 2020/2021, although the aforementioned outlet warns that there is little information about his wealth.
In the future, the tycoons – who use soccer to feed their egos, launder their ill-gotten fortunes and because some actually like it – would have the most difficult things if a project by Deputy Tracey Crouch is approved, which seeks to impose 47 measures to save English football. If approved, fans would have the right to veto new owners and an independent regulator would be created for the Premier.
Crouch was Minister for Sport until 2019 and is obsessed with changing the business model of English football. For this reason, the deputy will try to have her reform carried out this year and come into effect the next campaign, 2022-23, despite the fact that some English club owners describe her measures as “Maoist”, according to the newspaper As.
And although the big clubs in Spain have remained practically on the sidelines of the phenomenon, the president of La Liga, Javier Tebas, continues to insist on the damage that the creation of the Super League promoted by Real Madrid and Barcelona would do.
Recently, at the “Business of Football Summit” organized by the Financial Times, he said that the promoters of the Super League lie more than Putin.
“Recently there was a meeting at the house of Andrea Agnelli (Juventus) to talk about the Super League project, a continental League with two categories, where the national Leagues serve to classify. The greats will be present in one way or another way. For me it is an insult, because they do a lot of damage. And they would do much more damage. Florentino Pérez said in the Chiringuito that he wanted to be in charge, that he did not want us to worry and that he would give a lot of money for solidarity. He has been saying this for years. ..”, according to Ace.
