How Oliver Bierhoff wants to open up the sports asset class with Finvia Sport

Oliver Bierhoff spent 17 years as a professional footballer, and then 18 years in official roles at the German Football Association (DFB). He is currently working on his third career. Bierhoff is moving into wealth management. „Sport is my world. I always find it exciting to combine it with finance and business, and I can also make these connections because I understand something from all these worlds,“ says Bierhoff in the private markets podcast „Betting Billions“.

Bierhoff has acquired a 35% stake in Finvia Sports, a subsidiary of the family office Finvia. With Finvia Sports, Bierhoff wants to advise professional athletes on asset management. At the same time, the aim is to make sport as an asset class accessible to a broader range of investors. To this end, Finvia Sports is cooperating with US company Aliya Capital (finance for athletes), Score Capital (securitised transfer rights) and the private equity investor Arctos, which is already involved in several sports franchises in the USA.

„We have now also facilitated a direct investment in Hellas Verona,“ says Bierhoff. The contact with the American private equity investor involved was established via the Finvia management. Private equity now plays a major role in international football. As with Hellas Verona, financial investors are involved in individual clubs, or even football leagues. CVC, for example, holds stakes in the French and Spanish premier leagues.

CVC also tried to gain a foothold in Germany, and worked for a long time on a deal with the German Football League (DFL), which ultimately failed due to protests from fan groups. CVC wanted to acquire an 8% stake in a new DFL subsidiary, and would have paid 1 billion euros for it. The money would have been used to develop the Bundesliga’s digital marketing abroad. However, the 36 clubs from the first and second Bundesliga took a decision not to proceed go with the deal.

„This sporting world is something special,“ says Bierhoff, recalling discussions at the DFB when consultants were in the building. The point was always made that we are not the same as a screw factory.

It can be viewed from an entrepreneurial point of view. But sport has its unique characteristics, and the people involved are different to what financial investors know from companies in the business world. Bierhoff, therefore, always advises private equity investors to bring in people who are familiar with the market.

When asked about the failed DFL process, Bierhoff believes that the majority of decision-makers – i.e. the football clubs – did not really understand what would happen with the entry of new investors. He suspects the problem lay with communication, and was surprised why more clarification was not provided. What he heard from the private equity side is that they were just told that they couldn’t do it – and weren’t allowed to do a roadshow at the individual clubs.

And if, as in this case, there is a great deal of uncertainty and the decision-makers are incentivised to satisfy the fans rather than make a difficult business decision, then such cancellations occur. According to Bierhoff, it is difficult to get through with facts when it comes to emotional issues. He has learnt this time and time again in football, and the only way to resolve this is by creating trust. „And in the end, that can’t just be done with an information brochure,“ he stresses.

Another negative example is Hertha BSC Berlin, which has passed through several investors’ hands since the exit of financial investor KKR. First, Larst Windhorst tried his hand, who then passed the club on to 777 Partners. However, financial investors who would prefer to have the majority, and a say, have a problem in Germany: The 50+1 rule, which prevents investors from acquiring the majority of votes in football clubs. „As long as 50+1 exists, the final decision cannot lie with a rationally thinking management, but with other people and groups who perhaps don’t always keep their nerve and calm,“ says Bierhoff.

There have long been investors in German football, though few financial investors as in Berlin, but mainly strategic investors. Allianz, Adidas and Telekom are involved in Bayern Munich. Stuttgart has Porsche, Leipzig Red Bull, Leverkusen Bayer and Wolfsburg VW on board as investors. There are also patrons such as Dietmar Hopp at Hoffenheim and Michael Kühne in Hamburg. And sports investors do not only invest in football. Bierhoff also refers to the Formula 1 racing series, cricket and rugby.

Bierhoff points out that he also advises the New England Patriots. The American football club belongs to the Kraft family, who took over the club in 1994 for 180 million. Today, the value is estimated at 7.2 billion, Bierhoff notes.

And there are always new investment opportunities in sport, such as the Kings League – a football league founded in 2022 by former professional footballer Gerard Piqué and other footballers.

Bierhoff is not the only former professional athlete involved in finance. More and more athletes are now acting as investors themselves, sometimes even during their active careers. The US basketball player LeBron James, who is already involved in several start-ups and companies, is a prime example of this. In Germany, former Formula 1 world champion Nico Rosberg and ex-footballer Philipp Lahm are two examples. Mario Götze is also very active in the German start-up scene.