Is multi-club ownership the future of football? Some investors think so and are betting big

PitchBook analysis has found that 41.7% of clubs in 'big five' leagues are part of MCOs

Chelsea owners Behdad Eghbali of Clearlake Capital, and Todd Boehly are building a multi-club model (GETTY IMAGES)

In recent years, private capital money, much of it from North America, has flowed into football.

Take a look across the globe and there are clubs that have been the recipient of such investment from England to Denmark, from France to Brazil, from Belgium to Australia, football has attracted huge sums of cash as investors look to get a foothold in an asset class that is growing in value year on year, even if many of the clubs remain unprofitable.

One of the phenomena to have taken root is that of multi-club organisations (MCO), where investors take majority positions in a host of clubs in different countries and territories in an attempt to find synergies across the various teams, where they can adopt a uniform structure.

Recent analysis from PitchBook revealed that of the big five leagues across Europe, made up of England, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal, 41.7% of them are part of an MCO in some way for the 2023/24 season, a rise of five per cent year on year. In addition to that, 36.5% of clubs from the big five leagues have some kind of private equity, venture capital or private debt participation within their ownership, either majority or minority.

Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi-based owners, City Football Group, have been at the forefront of the MCO movement, with CFG now having some 13 clubs under its control, with clubs from Mumbai to New York, Melbourne to Montevideo, all part of the organisation. The Red Bull-owned RB Leipzig are another to have been early adopters, with Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls, FC Liefering and Red Bull Bragantino all part of the footballing stable.

Elsewhere, prospective Everton owners 777 Partners, the Miami-based investment firm, have majority stakes in Genoa, Hertha Berlin, Standard Liege, Melbourne Victory, Vasco da Gama and Red Star Paris, while having a minority position in La Liga side Sevilla. Other firms such as MSP Sports Capital, Eagle Football Holdings, RedBird Capital Partners, INEOS, Sport Republic and Pacific Media Group among those to have deployed capital into European football across more than one club.