Germany Readies €100 Billion Fund to Invest in Strategic Assets
Dubbed Deutschlandfonds — or Germany Fund — the investment vehicle will be designed to attract international investors including venture capital and family offices to multiply government resources.
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Who owns your Premier League club? And what else do they own?
Ahead of the start of the new Premier League season, the BookKeeper, The Athletic's dedicated football finance expert, has broken down the ownership structure of all 20 Premier League clubs. He has also looked at whether clubs sit inside a multi-club organisation and, more broadly, what else their owners — and, more often than not, the plural is required — have their hands in. Advertisement As you'll see, the ownership of some clubs is best described as complex. At several, we don't know the exact stakes of the individuals involved. At only two — Arsenal and Fulham — is there a solitary shareholder. At the rest, Premier League club ownership is a shared affair, though there is one theme running throughout. Across the 20 clubs, one nationality dominates club ownership: American owners now account for 49 per cent of England's top tier. This is who owns your Premier League club — and what else they own. Since 26 September 2018, Arsenal have been wholly owned by KSE Inc UK, a business incorporated in the U.S. state of Delaware and 100 per cent owned by Missouri-born Stan Kroenke. Before that date, KSE had owned 67.05 per cent of club shares. Kroenke then bought a 30.05 per cent stake from Russian-Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov for £550m, before performing a compulsory purchase of the remaining slice of shares. Kroenke first became involved with Arsenal in early 2007, buying a 9.9 per cent stake from ITV for £65m. Arsenal were publicly traded at the time, albeit with a small number of shares in wider circulation. KSE's full takeover saw the club delisted and taken under private ownership, where it remains today. Kroenke, through KSE, owns Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids, a relationship that predates his time at the Emirates. KSE bought the Rapids from Anschutz Entertainment Group in September 2003. No other football clubs sit under Kroenke's command, but KSE are one of the preeminent sporting empires in the world right now; a CNBC report valued KSE at $21.17billion (£15.8bn) two months ago, labelling it the world's richest sporting group. Alongside Arsenal and the Rapids, KSE owns NFL's Los Angeles Rams, NBA's Denver Nuggets and NHL's Colorado Avalanche. They also control Colorado Mammoth, a team in the USA and Canada's National Lacrosse League. Kroenke's wealth stems from both the professional and the personal: he developed shopping centres, many of them near Walmart stores, with whom he had links via his wife, Ann Walton. Walton is the heiress to the Walmart fortune. The Kroenke Group still owns shopping centres across the United States, and Kroenke also owns THF Realty, another real estate business. THF focuses on suburban development and, again, shopping centres make up much of its portfolio. As well as commercial real estate, Kroenke owns significant tracts of ranch land across various U.S. states. The Land Report, a magazine which tracks private land ownership in the U.S., had Kroenke at fourth in its 2025 list of the country's largest landowners, with 1.8 million acres under his control. Separately, since 2009, Kroenke has been the sole owner of the Screaming Eagle Winery Vineyards in California's Napa Valley. Eight years later, he bought the prestigious Bonneau du Martray estate in Burgundy, France, to go alongside previous winery purchases at Jonata in the Santa Ynez Valley and The Hilt in Santa Rita Hills (both in California). Largest shareholders: Stan Kroenke (100%) Owned since: Sept. 2018 Villa were bought by current owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens on 20 July 2018. Sawiris and Edens bought the club through NSWE SCS, a Luxembourg-based company the pair jointly controlled and owned. Villa's operations are housed under NSWE UK Limited, a UK-based entity 100 per cent owned by V Sports SCS, after NSWE SCS changed its name in June 2021. Sawiris and Edens sold a stake in V Sports' wholly owned management company in December 2023 to Atairos Partners LP, an American investment firm. That move kept Villa wholly owned by V Sports but diluted Sawiris' and Edens' beneficial ownership stakes, as did Atairos injecting a further £50m into V Sports in both August and October 2024. Atairos initially bought a 21.29 per cent stake in V Sports, and thus Villa, but that £100m in funding last year has bumped the group's share to 31.08 per cent. The shareholding is owned by A-AV LLC, a Cayman Islands-based company controlled by Atairos. Michael J. Angelakis, an American, runs Atairos and now sits on Villa's board. Sawiris and Edens continue to own the remainder of the shares jointly, through two of their own companies domiciled in foreign lands. Egyptian billionaire Sawiris holds his 34.46 per cent stake via the Cyprus-based NNS UK Investments Limited. Edens, an American, meanwhile, owns the same stake via Aston Villa Investors LLC, housed in the U.S. state of Delaware. V Sports owns a 29 per cent stake in Portuguese Primeira Liga side Vitoria, spending €5.5m in the first half of 2023, albeit the intention had been to own more. An initial run at a 46 per cent stake was reduced, ostensibly to ensure compliance with UEFA's multi-club ownership rules. Last December, shareholders at now fourth-tier Spanish side Real Union (they were relegated in June) approved a €4.5m equity increase, one which saw V Sports buy a little under 25 per cent of the club. Real Union are already majority owned by the family of Unai Emery, Villa's current manager; after ratification of V Sports' stake, the Emery family owns around 55 per cent, with the remaining 20 per cent owned by smaller shareholders. Alongside those two more official links, V Sports also have partnerships in place with Vissel Kobe of the Japanese J League and Egyptian side ZED FC. The latter relationship focuses on developing youngsters, as did V Sports' setting up of a grassroots academy in Senegal a couple of years ago. Since April 2014, Wes Edens has been a co-owner of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks franchise. He led a group alongside fellow private equity manager Marc Lasry; Lasry sold his Bucks shares two years ago. Alongside four partners, Edens co-founded Fortress Investments, a private equity firm, in 1998. In 2007, Edens and partners took the company public; as of 2023, it is owned by Mubadala Investment Company, one of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds. In 2014, Edens founded New Fortress Energy (NFE), a liquefied natural gas company which aims to produce carbon-free energy on a mass scale. Edens serves as CEO and chairman of the board and, along with his other founders, jointly retains a 33.5 per cent holding of NFE, which is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. Nassef Sawiris bought a 5.02 per cent stake in American holding company MSG Sports, which oversees NBA's New York Knicks and NHL's New York Rangers, in early 2021, but more recent filings in 2023 showed that stake had reduced to just 0.68 per cent. Outside of sport, Sawiris is Executive Chair and the largest shareholder of OCI Global, a worldwide producer and distributor of nitrogen, methanol and hydrogen, which focuses on decarbonisation. He owns a seven per cent stake in German giant Adidas and serves as a supervisory director for the company; he is also a board member at Fertiglobe plc (recently sold by OCI), Joe & The Juice, and serves as a member of the J.P. Morgan International Council. Michael J. Angelakis sits on various high-profile company boards, including, as of March this year, American Express. Angelakis also serves on the boards of other public companies Exxon Mobil, Lucky Strike and TriNet, alongside various private company involvements. Largest shareholders: Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens (34% each) Owned since: July 2018 Bournemouth's ownership last changed hands on 12 December 2022, when Turquoise Bidco Limited, helmed by US businessman Bill Foley, obtained 100 per cent of the club's shares from outgoing owner Maxim Demin, bringing his 11-year stint as owner to an end. Turquoise, subsequently renamed to Black Knight Football Club UK Limited, is a UK-based holding company wholly owned by Black Knight Football Club US, LP (BKFC), a Nevada-based partnership. BKFC is in turn owned by Cannae Holdings, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange company founded by Foley in 2014 and, like BKFC, is based in Nevada. Per SEC filings, Cannae owned 44.3 per cent of BKFC earlier this year and 'approximately 44 per cent' at August 8, and had invested a total $249m in its football operations at that point. Cannae is primarily owned by institutional investors; at last check, The Vanguard Group, Inc., and River Road Asset Management each owned 8.9 per cent of Cannae, while Blackrock, Inc., owned 7.4 per cent. Foley owns 7.7 per cent of Cannae, which would only put his beneficial ownership of Bournemouth at 3.4 per cent, but an April 2025 filing by Fidelity National Financial, Inc., chaired by Foley, disclosed his 'economic interest' in BKFC (and thus Bournemouth) was 28 per cent, meaning 24.6 per cent of his ownership is held outside of Cannae. Foley is the club's ultimate controlling party. Foley's 28 per cent, combined with the 40.9 per cent of the club beneficially owned by investors through Cannae, still leaves 31.1 per cent of Bournemouth's ownership to be accounted for. The opacity surrounding BKFC's U.S. filings means the exact split and owning identities of that remaining tranche are not known. The Chicago-based Ryan family, who've long owned a minority stake in the NFL's Chicago Bears, are known to own a holding in BKFC through Ryan Sports Ventures, and a minority ownership group within BKFC is led by Hollywood star Michael B. Jordan. As well as Bournemouth, BKFC own 100 per cent of Auckland FC in New Zealand, 40 per cent of FC Lorient in France and 22.85 per cent of Scotland's Hibernian. BKFC bought its stake in Lorient in January 2023, a month after the Bournemouth deal. It then acquired Auckland in November 2023, before adding the minority interest in Hibernian in February 2024. The group has grown since. In June this year, BKFC added Moreirense of Portugal's Primeira Liga to its portfolio, acquiring a majority stake. BKFC obtained a 70 per cent interest in the club for an $18m (£13.3m) investment over time. Separately, in October last year, Bournemouth announced a co-operation agreement with Kyoto Sanga of Japan's J League. The partnership is focused on youth development and coaching, as well as seeking to improve the 'brand awareness' of both clubs. In April of this year, BKFC announced an affiliation agreement with South Africa's Orlando City, recent participants at the Club World Cup. BKFC aren't known to have bought shares in Orlando City but, like the Kyoto Sanga agreement, the partnership will focus on development and commercial operations. Foley, through Black Knight Sports and Entertainment, owns NHL's Vegas Golden Knights and Henderson Silver Knights, an affiliate team. Foley also oversees an Indoor Football League table, Vegas Knight Hawks. The Ryan family owns a minority stake in the Chicago Bears. Outside of sport, as mentioned, Foley chairs Fidelity National Financial (FNF), a provider of insurance and settlement services to real estate and mortgage industries. He founded FNF in 1984. Foley also serves as chairman and CEO of Cannae. Through the group's interests, Foley sits on numerous company boards, including Dun & Bradstreet Holdings (though they are soon to be taken over — see the Chelsea section below) and Alight Inc. He has further business interests, including Foley Tramisene Acquisition Corporation and Foley Wines Limited. Cannae being publicly listed means there are vast links between Bournemouth and other companies, as several institutional investors have a beneficial stake in the club. Less clear still is the makeup of that minority ownership group led by Michael B. Jordan. The actor has other business and sporting interests — he invested in Formula One's Alpine Racing two years ago. Largest shareholders: Bill Foley (28%) Owned since: Dec. 2022 Bees United, Brentford's supporters' trust, sold their majority stake in the club to Matthew Benham in June 2012, with Benham acquiring 96.23 per cent of shares. He obtained the remainder during the 2013-14 season. That stayed the case for over a decade, but on April 15 this year Benham transferred his shares to Best Intentions Analytics Limited (BIA), a new UK-based holding company, before seemingly all of his shares in BIA were moved into Me and Olja Limited, another new UK-based holding company, 13 days later. The restructuring was done in anticipation of Benham selling a minority stake in the club, which completed in late June. South African-born British national Gary Lubner and English filmmaker Matthew Vaughn bought a 10 per cent stake in BIA. Benham, through Me and Olja Limited, remains Brentford's majority shareholder. Bees United hold a protective rights deed to this day (formerly a 'special share'), giving the group the ability to veto any proposed sale of the club's stadium. The Supporters' Trust also has the ability to appoint a fan to the club board. Benham formerly owned a majority stake in FC Midtjylland of Denmark, though he disposed of his holding in August 2023 to end a nine-year involvement with the club. The relationship saw several intra-group player transfers, including Frank Onyeka's permanent move to Brentford in July 2021. Brentford are back in a multi-club group, though: on 15 April this year, BIA bought all of the shares in AD Merida, a club currently in the Spanish third tier. Separately, in March of this year, Brentford agreed a strategic partnership with Gil Vicente of the Portuguese Primeira Liga. The agreement is focused on improving player development. The two teams also met in a pre-season friendly at the end of July. Benham founded Smartodds in 2004, a business which aims to help professional gamblers maximise their returns through providing statistical research and consulting services around sports. Benham stepped down as a director in 2017 but retains a 90 per cent shareholding today. Benham also held a majority stake in Triplebet Limited, a Guernsey-based entity which holds a UK Gambling Commission licence and trades under the name Matchbook. Benham no longer owns a majority of Triplebet, but is reported to still hold a minority stake in the business. Largest shareholders: Matthew Benham (90%) Owned since: June 2012 Tony Bloom first took up an ownership stake at Brighton in 2006, injecting £850,000 for a roughly 13 per cent stake, hovering around that mark for a couple of years until the 2008-09 season. That year, Bloom first loaned the club £66.4m, principally to help with the build of a new stadium, before converting £18m of that sum to shares. Doing so lifted his ownership stake to a majority 77.22 per cent, and Bloom's shareholding has grown sporadically since via more share injections. 2014 saw his holding jump up to 92.19 per cent, and today it sits at 96.44 per cent. The remaining 3.56 per cent of voting shares is spread across 13 minority shareholders, remnants of the era before Bloom where no one individual controlled the club (Bloom's uncle, Ray, retains 535,000 shares — a 0.56 per cent holding — to this day). Other than Tracy Stone-Brown (1.16 per cent), none of the minority owners owns more than one per cent of the club. Bloom recently bought a 29 per cent stake in Hearts, paying £9.86m in the process, but was keen to stress it was an investment of his as an individual rather than any attempt to bring Hearts under a multi-club banner. The size of that stake, and the fact that Bloom only owns non-voting shares, is linked to a desire to remain at ease with UEFA rules. That Hearts deal was Bloom's second entry into a new club this year: he bought a 19.1 per cent stake in Melbourne Victory, of Australia's A-League, in March. Bloom also owns a minority 24.86 per cent holding in Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise, having reduced that stake in June 2023, again to comply with UEFA regulations. Bloom, via Langford Holdings Limited, bought a 94.08 per cent stake in Union in May 2018, which later grew to 99.44 per cent. When both Brighton and Union qualified for the Europa League in 2023-24, Bloom sold 75 per cent of his Langford shareholding to existing partner Alex Muzio (Muzio remortgaged his house to afford it), thereby reducing his beneficial ownership of Union. Several players have played for both Brighton and Union in recent years, including Kaoru Mitoma, who spent the 2021-22 season on loan in Belgium. Bloom set up Blue Lizard Consulting Limited in 2001 and retains full ownership today. He has long been mentioned as an owner of Starlizard, a gambling consultancy, but trawling public records shows he has never held a position at the company. The Times have previously reported that Bloom was one of the company's main clients, rather than part of its running, though Starlizard is naturally linked to how he made his fortune. So too Jamestown Analytics, an offshoot of Starlizard, which worked with Brighton on recruitment strategy, and has dealings with Hearts as well. Bloom helms The Bloom Foundation, a not-for-profit he set up in 2015 with the aim of addressing social issues through collaborating with other not-for-profits. He has provided £10.5m in donations across the past two years alone. Bloom was also a founding director and trustee of Overcoming MS, a charity seeking to help those diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, though he stepped down in 2024. He also owns 25 per cent and is a director of Regent Exhibitions Limited, which owns the annual IMEX trade shows held in Frankfurt and Las Vegas, Nevada. Bloom's uncle, Ray, owns 35 per cent of the business and is the largest individual stakeholder. Beyond that, he owns various UK-based companies involved in building projects and property development. An avid horse racing fan, Bloom also has ownership stakes in a number of high-profile horses. Largest shareholders: Tony Bloom (96%) Owned since: May 2009 On 30 December 2020, a majority shareholding in Burnley was acquired by Calder Vale Holdings Limited (CVH), a UK-based holding company wholly owned by Velocity Sports Limited (VSL), a Jersey-based company. The takeover was a leveraged buyout, whereby significant amounts of club money were used, alongside debt, which was then loaded onto Burnley to repay. In October 2023, CVH transferred its Burnley shares to Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings Limited, another UK company wholly owned by VSL. VSL, in turn, is owned by ALK Capital LLC, a Delaware-registered company. Velocity Capital currently owns 82.71 per cent of Burnley shares. Per a previous declaration on Burnley's website, Burnley chairman Alan Pace beneficially owned 50.38 per cent of club shares, via ALK and Velocity, and his shareholding in Velocity Capital remains between 50 and 75 per cent per the latest Companies House filings. Pace is listed by the club as its ultimate controlling party. Alongside him, ALK partners Mike Smith and Stuart Hunt share Velocity Capital's remaining 32.33 per cent holding, assuming Pace's share hasn't moved from the previously disclosed figure. Both Smith and Hunt are listed on Burnley's website as holding a 'significant interest' under Premier League rules, i.e. more than 10 per cent. The likelihood is that the pair have equal shareholdings. Velocity Capital has yet to publish its first set of accounts — they are now almost eight months overdue — so visibility on the exact share allocations is poor. Velocity Sports Partners LLC, a separate entity, owns 7.36 per cent of Burnley. This business is controlled by ALK (so Pace, Smith and Hunt's beneficial ownership of Burnley is a tad higher than detailed above) but is believed to be the vehicle by which smaller shareholders have been attracted to the group; retired NFL star J.J. Watt is a minority investor in Burnley, seemingly via Velocity Sports Partners LLC. Separately, a five per cent tranche in the club is owned by CJA NYC Element LLC, a Delaware-registered company with links to American businessman Vlad Torgovnik. Torgovnik joined the board of Burnley's holding company in August 2023. The remaining 4.92 per cent of shares is spread among roughly 1,000 minority shareholders, most of whom have held their shares for many years. Burnley are on the cusp of joining the multi-club ranks: in mid-July, it was announced a deal had been agreed by VSL to acquire the 99.96 per cent stake in La Liga side Espanyol, held by China's RASTAR Group. The €130m deal is comprised of €65m cash and €65m shares in VSL; RASTAR will own 16.45 per cent of VSL once the deal completes. That will, in turn, dilute the beneficial holdings of Burnley's existing owners. Separately, Burnley entered a strategic partnership with Dundee FC in January 2024, focused on youth development. The primary business of Pace and Smith now appears to be ALK Capital, where much of the business's activity is seemingly focused on football. Via Velocity Sports Partners, ALK has taken up a minority stake in Rezzil, an extended reality-focused sports technology firm, which also inked a four-year commercial partnership with the Premier League in 2024. Prior to setting up ALK, Alan Pace spent over a decade at Citi, heading up a number of departments at the investment bank. He joined them from Sport Capital Partners Worldwide and, in the mid-2000s, spent two years as CEO at MLS team Real Salt Lake. Pre-ALK, Mike Smith was managing director and COO at Perfect Order, as well as a partner at Brewer Attorneys & Counselors, an international firm. Stuart Hunt retains his role as president of PJ Restaurants, LLC (PJR), an international franchise for the Papa John's pizza chain. PJR has over around 70 stores under its banner. In June 2022, HB Pizza Limited, a UK-based investment company of PJR's, acquired 32 new sites in the north of England. Hunt's HB Investment Group is involved in owning and operating hospitality assets and restaurants. Vlad Torgovnik, meanwhile, is the Chief Information Officer at Millennium Management Global Investment (MMG). MMG has around $75bn assets under management at the end of June 2025. Largest shareholders: Alan Pace (>50%) Owned since: December 2020 After being placed under special licence following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the result of then-owner Roman Abramovich being sanctioned by the British government, Chelsea were sold on 30 May 2022 to a new ownership group led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss for £2.5billion, with a further £1.75bn committed to future investment in the club. While Boehly was named first in the 6 May announcement, it is Clearlake Capital who own the bulk of shares in 22 Holdco Limited, the UK-based holding vehicle which owns 100 per cent of Chelsea, albeit with a couple of other holding companies in between. Clearlake's share in the club sits at 61.85 per cent. The stake in 22 Holdco is held by Blues Investment Holdings Parent, LP (BIHP), a Cayman Islands-incorporated business. BIHP is a funding vehicle managed by Clearlake, ultimately controlled by CCG Global, LLC, a Delaware company. CCG Global is, in turn, controlled by Clearlake founders Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano. Eghbali and Feliciano are both named as persons with significant control over 22 Holdco (and thus Chelsea) by virtue of their combined 61.85 per cent holding with Clearlake (split between the pair for purposes of the diagram at the top of this piece). The only other such person is current club chairman Boehly. He heads Blueco 22 Holdings LP, which owns the remaining 38.15 per cent. Boehly's holding is lower than that; between disclosures on Chelsea's website and Companies House, his stake in Chelsea ranges from 10 to 25 per cent. Outside of Boehly, Eghbali and Feliciano, the only other person deemed as having a 'significant interest' under Premier League rules — a shareholding of more than 10 per cent — is Mark Walter, who is part of Boehly's Blueco 22 Holdings group. Wyss, a Swiss, named in the takeover announcement and a Chelsea director now, is also part of Boehly's group and indicatively owns less than 10 per cent of the club. A little over a year after the Chelsea purchase, in July 2023, 22 Holdco bought a 99.97 per cent stake in Ligue 1 side Strasbourg via Blueco 22 Midco Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary under which Chelsea sits too. The Strasbourg link has already seen several players move between the two clubs, often on loan from London to France. Other than Strasbourg, no further clubs are under the group's command currently. Chelsea's owners have wider sporting interests. Boehly owns a 20 per cent stake in MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, where Blueco 22 partner Walter is the primary owner and chairman. The pair bought a 27 per cent stake in NBA's Los Angeles Lakers; in June, Walter agreed in principle to buy a majority stake in the team at a record $10bn valuation. Separately, since 2014, the pair have owned WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks; Walter leads that investment alongside Magic Johnson, with Boehly a partner in the organisation. Elsewhere, Walter is CEO of Guggenheim Partners, the global financial advisory firm he founded in 1999. Guggenheim had $345bn in assets under management (AUM) as of 31 March. Boehly, who joined Guggenheim in the early 2000s, co-founded and now chairs Eldridge, an asset management and insurance holding company; Eldridge's AUM at the end of March was $70bn. Wyss established The Wyss Foundation in 1998, a non-profit which funds conservation efforts and political causes aligned with the Democratic Party in the U.S. Wyss made his fortune through setting up and running the U.S. arm of Synthes, a medical device manufacturer based in Switzerland. He sold it to Johnson & Johnson for $19.7bn in 2011, and has since mostly focused his efforts on philanthropic work through The Wyss Foundation, alongside scientific research funding and political activism. Eghbali and Feliciano co-founded Clearlake Capital in 2006, and the investment firm's AUM now sits above $90bn. Forty-eight current equity investments are listed on the Clearlake website, with both the Chelsea owners sitting on the boards of multiple companies in which Clearlake holds a stake. Some of Clearlake's biggest acquisitions, which still remain under the group's control today, include Cornerstone OnDemand, a software company bought for around $5bn in 2021, and Alteryx, a cloud computing platform bought for $4.4bn in April 2024. More recently, in March, Clearlake announced the impending purchase of business data provider Dun & Bradstreet, in a transaction with a total value of $7.7bn. Largest shareholders: Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano (62%) Owned since: May 2022 Crystal Palace enjoyed, or endured, the most in terms of ownership upheaval this summer, as John Textor's four-year stint as owner came to an end. He sold the 42.92 per cent stake held by his Eagle Football Holdings investment vehicle to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson on 24 July. If Textor's departure felt confusing, then it was in keeping with the leadership structure he left behind. Palace Holdco UK Limited, the UK-based holding company under which the football club sits, has seven different holders of ordinary shares, across four different share classes, and the amounts have moved on since most recent filings — Eagle's holding fell by 2.26 per cent between those and last month's share sale — leaving us in the world of estimation. Johnson, with that 42.92 per cent, is the largest individual shareholder, followed by the estimated 38.80 per cent holding owned by Palace Holdco LP. The latter is a business registered in the U.S. state of Delaware, jointly owned by David Blitzer and Josh Harris (it is thought, but not known, that the pair own equal shares in the Delaware business). The next largest shareholder is London-born club chairman Steve Parish. Parish owned 9.73 per cent of the club in December 2024, but his holding may have ticked up a smidge over 10 per cent now. Beneath him, a further pair of British businessmen, Stephen Browett and Jeremy Hosking, own around 2.81 per cent each. The final small tranche of Palace shares is owned by two businesses of unclear ownership. Kloof Capital Investments Limited is believed to be controlled by Robert Franco, who was previously detailed as having a 'significant interest' in the club. Kloof invested £5m in exchange for a 3.22 per cent holding in January 2021, though that has now fallen to around 1.82 per cent. It is unclear how Franco was once deemed to meet the 'significant interest' parameters laid out by the Premier League. The remaining slug of shares is around a 0.70 per cent holding owned by Palace Parallel Holdco LLC. Another Delaware-registered business, its ownership is unclear, but is believed to be made up of individuals linked to Blitzer and Harris. Of note is the structure of Palace's voting shares — in general meetings, the club's main shareholders have equal say, regardless of shareholding. In other matters, voting rights more closely track shares held. For the purposes of our graphic at the top of this piece, we've shown Palace's ownership according to shares held. The question has been a hot one all summer. Textor's Eagle group held stakes in several clubs, including Lyon who, like Palace, qualified for this season's Europa League. Despite Textor now having disposed of Eagle's share in Palace, UEFA deemed them and Lyon to be under the control of Textor at the time of their assessment date, and demoted Palace to the Europa Conference League. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld UEFA's judgment earlier this week. Palace, despite that judgment, are no longer affiliated with any Eagle-owned clubs. They do however, retain multi-club links: David Blitzer heads Global Football Holdings, a consortium with stakes in six other European clubs: Alcorcon (Spain), Ado Den Haag (Netherlands), Augsburg (Germany), Brondby (Denmark), Estoril Praia (Portugal) and Beveren (Belgium). Blitzer also owns the second-largest number of shares in MLS team Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals of the National Women's Soccer League. Alongside owning the New York Jets, Woody Johnson is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and, per a filing made in 2017 when he was serving as United States Ambassador to the UK during the first presidential term of Donald Trump, he still had shares in J&J. Outside of the Jets, his main ongoing business interest is The Johnson Company, a private investment company for the family which he set up in 1978. David Blitzer is chairman of Blackstone Inc.'s tactical opportunities division. Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager, with $1.2trillion assets under management as at the end of June 2025. Blitzer formed Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment LLC (HBSE) with Josh Harris in 2017, through which the pair now own NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and NHL's New Jersey Devils. HBSE also operates the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey, where the Devils play; has invested in New Meta Entertainment, a digital sports and entertainment company; owns Elevate Sports Ventures, a sports consultancy; and also has venture fund and real estate arms. HBSE also owns a minority stake in Joe Gibbs Racing, a NASCAR team. Blitzer, separately, owns a minority stake in MLB's Cleveland Guardians, and co-owns Jupiter Links Golf Club, a team in the virtual TMRW Golf League (TGL) founded in 2022 by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Mike McCarley. Woods is the other co-owner of the team. Harris, for his part, owns NFL's Washington Commanders, having formed part of a group that in 2023 paid the highest price ever for a sports team at the time. He founded private equity firm Apollo Global Management in 1990 but left three years ago. He has since founded 26North, another investment firm. He also founded Harris Philanthropies with his wife in 2014, which aims to assist vulnerable youths. Largest shareholders: Woody Johnson (43%) Owned since: July 2025 In December last year, Everton's arduous journey toward new ownership was finally completed. After nearly eight years as an owner, Farhad Moshiri sold his 94.1 per cent stake in the club to Roundhouse Capital Holdings Limited (RCH). A concurrent equity conversion of a £450.8m loan due to Moshiri, alongside a further equity investment, saw RCH's total stake in the club rise to 99.5 per cent. RCH is a UK-based holding company wholly owned by Toffee Investments LLC, a company headquartered in the U.S. state of Texas. RCH is the UK investment vehicle of The Friedkin Group, Inc., headed by Dan Friedkin. Friedkin's exact stake in RCH is unknown, but he is the majority shareholder, owning at least 75 per cent of the business. Alongside Friedkin, Everton have confirmed Christopher Sarofim, head of a global investment firm, and Jason Kidd, the current head coach of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, each hold equity interests in the club. Sarofim is defined as having a 'significant interest' under Premier League rules, meaning he owns at least 10 per cent. Kidd's stake required disclosure but is below 10 per cent. The exact make-up of RCH's shareholdings — and thus the beneficial ownership of Everton — may become clearer when RCH's first Confirmation Statement is filed at Companies House in October. The remaining 0.5 per cent of shares held directly in the club are owned by over 2,000 minority shareholders. The Friedkin Group (TFG), through Delaware-registered Romulus and Remus Investments LLC, has been the majority shareholder in AS Roma of Serie A since August 2020. Back then, TFG acquired 86.6 per cent of Roma shares — it is now the sole shareholder. Everton are the third club to come under TFG's banner, after the group acquired AS Cannes, then and now of the French fourth tier, in June 2023. There's potential Everton won't be the last string to TFG's multi-club bow. On 16 July, TFG launched Pursuit Sports, an entity which will oversee the group's sports investments. The Friedkin Group spans various companies across the automotive, entertainment, hospitality and adventure industries, alongside its football ventures. The group's growth into a multi-billion dollar company can be traced to 1969 and the setting up of Gulf States Toyota (GST) by Dan Friedkin's father, Thomas. Toyota franchised GST to sell its cars to car dealerships in five U.S. states. It is one of the biggest assets within TFG, which turned over an estimated $13.3bn in 2024, per Forbes. Alongside other automotive holdings, TFG owns several diverse assets including, but not limited to: Diamond Creek, a widely admired golf course in North Carolina; Copilot Capital, which backs European software teams; Legendary Expeditions, a Tanzanian excursions business; Auberge Resorts Collection, a worldwide portfolio of hotels and resorts; and Neon, an independent film distribution studio that boasts among its back catalogue Parasite, the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2019. Largest shareholders: Dan Friedkin (75%+) Owned since: December 2024 Fulham were bought out on 12 July 2023 when Pakistani-American billionaire Shahid Khan, via Big Cat Holdings Limited, a Bermuda-based company, and Cougar Bidco London Limited, a UK one, acquired the club from another Bermuda-based company which held assets for the interests of former chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed and family. The purchase cost Khan £121.1m. In February 2015, Khan transferred all of his shares in Fulham to the UK-based Cougar Holdco London Limited (CHL), removing the Bermuda link. Two trusts in Khan's name previously shared the ownership of CHL, but those were fully transferred in December 2018 to K2TR Family Holdings 2, Corporation, a business registered in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Public filings relating to K2TR are scarce, and the exact make-up of its shareholders is unknown. In reality though, Khan retains full control of Fulham; it is likely that the ultimate ownership of the club resides in one or more trusts in his name. Fulham have no existing ties to other clubs, though they aren't Khan's only sporting interest. A year and a half before taking over at Craven Cottage, Khan bought the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, and retains full ownership of them today. Khan owns Flex-N-Gate, which manufactures components and mechanical assemblies for the automative sector. Flex-N-Gate supplies, among others, BMW, Nissan, Ford and Toyota, and booked revenues of $8.9bn in 2024. As well as his ownership of the Jaguars, Khan's Beatnik Investments, LLC, is a parent company of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), an American professional wrestling promotion. AEW is primarily run by Khan's son, Tony, who also holds executive positions at Fulham and the Jaguars. Shahid Khan also owns and runs Iguana Investments Florida LLC, a real estate development business which in recent years has bought fairgrounds property in Downtown Jacksonville as well as partnering with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to bring a Four Seasons to the city. It is scheduled to open in 2026. Khan already owns the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, having bought it in 2016. Largest shareholders: Shahid Khan (100%) Owned since: July 2013 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, first took up an ownership stake at Elland Road in May 2018. At the same time, existing owner Andrea Radrizzani converted £8.8m in existing debt to shares and 49ers Enterprises injected £11m as cash in return for a 25.09 per cent stake in Leeds. In late 2020, the group upped its stake by 16 per cent to 41.28 per cent. It then rose again in October 2021, as Football Investment Fund, LP, a investment fund controlled by 49ers Enterprises, obtained a further 6.52 per cent of Radrizzani's holding (owned by his own investment vehicle, Greenfield Investment PTE Limited). On 25 September 2023, over five years after their first involvement, 49ers Enterprises completed their Leeds takeover, buying out Radrizzani's remaining 52.19 per cent stake and acquiring 100 per cent of the club's shares. Leeds are now 100 per cent owned by 49ers Enterprises Global Football LLC, a business registered in the U.S. state of Delaware. The makeup of 49ers Enterprises is fairly opaque; all that is really known is that current Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe and Jed York, principal owner and CEO of the San Francisco 49ers, each own greater than 10 per cent but less than 25 per cent of 49ers Enterprises Partners LLC (which wholly owns 49ers Global Football). Unravelling the rest is close to impossible, but some names of other minority shareholders in 49ers Enterprises are known. Australian businessman Peter Lowy, of the global retail property company, Westfield Group, sits on the club board and has a shareholding. Red Bull, the energy drinks giant, acquired a little under 10 per cent in 2024, alongside a sponsorship deal with the club. 49ers Enterprises is split into general partners and limited partners: the former is a smaller group providing most of the funding, the latter a large group of unknown quantity contributing smaller amounts to the cause. Marathe, York and Lowy all comprise general partners, but beneath them, there's a huge cast of supporting characters. The full list isn't known, but those with small holdings in the group — and thus in Leeds — include Russell Crowe, Michael Phelps, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Russell Westbrook, T.J. McConnell, Larry Nance Jr, Jim Messina and, as of May last year, Will Ferrell. Leeds are, in effect, in two multi-club groups. Red Bull's minority stake in the group brings the Elland Road outfit into contact with Red Bull's sprawling operation; the energy drinks company majority owns Red Bull Salzburg (in Austria), New York Red Bulls (USA), RB Leipzig (Germany), FC Liefering (Austria), Red Bull Bragantino (Brazil) and RB Omiya Ardija (Japan). Red Bull also bought a 10.6 per cent stake in Paris FC last November. Separately, 49ers Enterprises co-led a consortium with health insurance entrepreneur Andrew Cavenagh, which successfully bought a 51 per cent stake in Scottish club Rangers at the end of May. Jed York is the controlling owner of San Francisco's NFL team and has been investing in startups for a little over a decade. The York family's venture capital firm, Aurum Partners, has stakes in a variety of companies, including Squire, a barbershop management business, Carrot, which provides fertility services, Volley, and BallerTV, an on-demand streaming service. Alongside the NFL, Leeds' ownership group has several interests in other sports. Paraag Marathe helped launch Major League Cricket, an American T20 league, though he has since stepped down as chair of USA Cricket. Red Bull, meanwhile, is active in various high-octane sports, perhaps most prominently in Formula One motor racing. Largest shareholders: Paraag Marathe and Jed York (10-25% each) Owned since: September 2023 Fenway Sports Group (FSG) spent £230.4m on buying Liverpool in October 2010, with a High Court ruling forcing the takeover through and taking the club out of the hands of former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Today, as then, Liverpool sit under UKSV Holdings Company Limited, FSG's UK-based investment vehicle. The overarching owner of the club is Fenway Sports Group LLC, a U.S. company, which owns approximately 97 per cent of FSG Football Group LLC, which wholly owns UKSV Holdings. The ownership split of FSG isn't publicly known, but Liverpool's website confirms only four parties hold more than 10 per cent of the shares: John W. Henry, club chairman Tom Werner, Mike Gordon and Rouge Aggregator LP, an investment fund managed by RedBird Capital Partners, who bought into FSG in 2021 (no single shareholder in Rouge/RedBird owns a significant beneficial interest in Liverpool). Of those four parties, Henry is the largest shareholder. Public disclosures confirm he owns between 25 and 50 per cent of FSG. The other three— Werner, Gordon and Rouge — own between 10 and 25 per cent. A further undisclosed amount of FSG, perhaps between a quarter and a third, is owned by minority investors. Two of those, NBA star LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter, were announced alongside RedBird as FSG investors four years ago. Within the announcement, FSG laid out a full list of publicly disclosed partners; as well as James, Carter, RedBird, Henry, Werner and Gordon, there were a further 20 names listed. An estimated three per cent of Liverpool is owned by Dynasty Equity, a sports investment firm. Co-founded by Americans Jonathan M. Nelson and K. Don Cornwell, Dynasty bought a minority stake in the club in September 2023. Dynasty does not own shares directly in Liverpool; its holding is believed to be via FSG Football Group LLC. FSG have several interests in other sports but, to date, have yet to add another football club to their portfolio. It has not been for the want of trying, and recent activity has focused on Spain. Interest earlier this year in Malaga ultimately came to nought, but at the time of writing, talks are ongoing about a staged takeover of Getafe. Adding a club under the FSG banner was highlighted as a possible course of action in March 2024 when the group hired Michael Edwards as chief executive of football. Talks took place last year about a takeover of beleaguered Bordeaux in France and, while those came to nothing too, Liverpool entering a multi-club group looks likely sooner rather than later. Other football clubs might not have bolstered FSG's portfolio, but there's no shortage of sporting assets. FSG currently owns MLB's Boston Red Sox, NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Common Golf, a team in the virtual TMRW Golf League (TGL) founded in 2022 by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Mike McCarley, in partnership with the PGA Tour. Dynasty Equity, the minority stakeholder in FSG Football Group, co-led a June 2024 funding round for TGL. In 2024, FSG led a consortium named Strategic Sports Group (SSG), which spent $1.5bn to form PGA Tour Enterprises, a business focused on modernising the existing tour and which provided almost 200 PGA Tour players with equity stakes in SSG. FSG also owns a stakes in RFK Racing, a NASCAR team. Beyond sports teams, FSG owns 80 per cent of NESN, a sports network in New England, and in 2023, via their Penguins ownership, bought Sportsnet Pittsburgh alongside MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates. Fenway Sports Management is a global sports marketing firm under FSG's hand, and there's also a property arm, FSG Real Estate, which boasts among its assets Fenway Park and Fenway South, the Red Sox's home and training grounds. In terms of majority shareholder John W. Henry, his main non-sporting interest is The Boston Globe newspaper, bought for $70m in 2013. Henry founded and chaired John W. Henry & Company, Inc., a global investment management firm, for three decades between 1981 and 2012, but his business interests are now centred around the FSG sporting empire. Largest shareholders: John W. Henry. (25-50%) Owned since: October 2010 Manchester City's transformation from long-term underachievers to the most handsomely backed club on the planet might have started on the final day of the summer 2008 transfer window but the transaction which confirmed it didn't complete until three weeks later. It was on 23 September that Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development (ADUG) obtained a 90 per cent holding in the club, ADUG being registered in Abu Dhabi and wholly owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. ADUG bought its majority share from Thaksin Shinawatra, and exactly a year later, obtained the remaining 10 per cent from Worldwide Investments Limited (WIL). Shinawatra had retained a minority holding when he sold to ADUG and Mansour, and shifted that holding to WIL at the time. In January 2013, City Football Group Limited (CFG) was incorporated, and thereafter the club was moved under the CFG banner. CFG, and thus Manchester City, remained wholly owned by ADUG until December 2015, at which point a consortium of China Media Capital Holdings and CITIC Capital bought a 10.71 per cent holding in CFG. CMC and CITC remain onboard, but their CFG shareholding has dwindled from the 13.79 per cent high it reached in 2017. The Chinese consortium now owns just 0.93 per cent of CFG and City. Mansour is still the majority owner of the club, albeit his shares have been transferred from ADUG to Newton Investment & Development - Sole Proprietorship LLC (NI&D), another Abu Dhabi-registered company. NI&D's shareholding sits at 80.31 per cent. The remainder is primarily owned by two funds managed by Silver Lake, an American private equity firm that bought into CFG in 2019. SLA CM Marcus Holdings LP and SLA Marcus Co-Invest LP own a combined 16.81 per cent of City and CFG. The final 1.95 per cent tranche belongs to Vega FZ, LLC, a United Arab Emirates-based company which first bought a 2.11 per cent holding from ADUG in November 2019. City are the diamond in the CFG crown, arguably the most well-known multi-club organisation on the planet, perhaps only usurped by Red Bull's setup. CFG spans five continents and 12 clubs, of varying ownership stakes. Joining City are: New York City FC of Major League Soccer (CFG owns 80 per cent); Melbourne City of Australia's A-League (100 per cent); Girona of Spain's La Liga (47.85 per cent); Lommel of Belgium's second tier (99.96 per cent); Troyes of Frances's Ligue 2 (99.9 per cent); Palermo of Italy's Serie B (94.94 per cent); Montevideo City Torque of the Uruguayan Primera División (100 per cent); Bahia of Brazil's top division (90 per cent); Yokohama F. Marinos of Japan's J-League (19.9 per cent); Shenzhen Peng City of the Chinese Super League (33 per cent); and Mumbai City FC of the Indian Super League (65 per cent). As a result of both Manchester City and Girona qualifying for the Champions League last season, CFG placed its shareholding in Girona in an independent blind trust for 2024-25. In addition to those clubs CFG owns a stake in, the group has inked multiple partnership deals with other clubs in recent years. Bolivia's Club Bolivar came on board as a partner in January 2021, while Vannes Olympique Club of France followed a month later. In 2023, Singapore outfit Geylang International signed up to a collaboration agreement, before another such deal was agreed in February 2024 between CFG and Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir. Sheikh Mansour's ownership of City has long been put forward as a personal investment of his, but his wider portfolio is laden with links to the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — of whom he is also vice president and deputy prime minister, as well as being chairman of the country's Presidential Court. Mansour chairs two of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth funds, Mubadala Investment Company (MIC) and Emirates Investment Authority (EIA), and sits on the board of another, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). Naturally, that provides links to a huge number of businesses and entities across the world; the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute lists ADIA as the fourth largest such fund in the world with over $1trillion assets under management, MIC are listed 14th and EIA 21st. As well as their investment into CFG, Silver Lake bought a one-third share in the Australian Professional Leagues, which run men's and women's A-League competitions, in late 2021. The fund acquired majority ownership of Diamond Baseball Holdings, which owns and operates Minor League Baseball teams, in 2022. Beyond sport, the firm has a diverse portfolio: software companies, health businesses, technology corporations and real estate businesses can all be found among the 70 current investments listed on Silver Lake's website. Largest shareholders: Sheikh Mansour (80%) Owned since: September 2008 Twenty years on from perhaps the most controversial takeover in football history, Manchester United remain under the hand of the Glazer family. New York-born Malcolm Glazer passed away in 2014, but a majority of voting shares in United are now owned by an assortment of 11 trusts or limited liability companies controlled by his six children. In order of their share of voting rights in the club, they are: Joel (14.30 per cent), Darcie (13.41 per cent), Bryan (12.55 per cent), Avram (9.85 per cent), Kevin (9.27 per cent) and Edward (8.54 per cent). At the end of March 2025, the six siblings controlled 67.92 per cent of the voting rights in United and owned 48.95 per cent of the shares in issue. That disconnect arises because of a new class 'B' of shares issued to the Glazer family when the club floated on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2012, meaning that the flotation put just 5.36 per cent of the voting rights on the open market. The family retained all of those B shares until February 2024, at which point Trawlers Limited, an entity wholly owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, bought up 25 per cent of them, before issuing more by way of a cash injection into the club. Ratcliffe poured $300m (£238.5m) into United across 2024, at the end of which entities related to him owned 28.94 per cent of club shares and 28.96 per cent of the voting rights. As part of the deal, Ratcliffe gained control over sporting operations. Ratcliffe's holding sits within INEOS Limited, the multinational conglomerate he founded in 1998, after the shares were transferred from Trawlers to INEOS in December 2024. INEOS Limited, in turn, is owned by three British businessmen. Per the company's 2024 financials, Ratcliffe owns a majority 61.73 per cent stake, Andrew Currie owns 19.19 per cent, and John Reece holds the remaining 19.08 per cent, which would ordinarily mean the trio were beneficial owners of the club. However, when the shares passed from Trawlers to INEOS, each of Ratcliffe, Currie and Reece disclaimed their beneficial ownership over them, meaning the endpoint of the share ownership is INEOS. Outside of the Glazers and INEOS, 22.11 per cent of United's shares are publicly traded, with most of those held by institutional investors. The B shares remain solely in the hands of the Glazers and INEOS, meaning just 3.13 per cent of the club's voting rights are owned by outsiders. Since the arrival of Ratcliffe and INEOS, United share an owner with French club Nice and Swiss side Lausanne-Sport. INEOS bought into Lausanne in 2017, then Nice two years later — though they were recently exploring selling the latter. Having said that, INEOS placed Nice into a blind trust across the 2024-25 season in order to comply with UEFA rules, as both they and United qualified for Europe. Across last season, neither INEOS (nor, by extension, Ratcliffe) were deemed to have control or decisive influence at the French club. Malcolm Glazer acquired the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1995, and the family still own the franchise today. Lancer Capital, an investment group chaired by Avram Glazer, owns Desert Vipers, a franchise in the United Arab Emirates T20 cricket league. Malcolm's business interests were myriad — and of varying success — but the enduring holdings of the family reside in real estate. Those interests now largely sit under Glazer Properties, which covers the ownership, acquisition, management and leasing of commercial real estate assets and has properties, generally shopping malls, in 14 of the 50 U.S. states. Malcolm had started First Allied Corporation (FAC) in 1984 for the same purposes, though it appears Glazer Properties has now replaced FAC. Separately, the family retain control of HRG Group, a former oil company that came under Malcolm's command in 1994 when it was named Zapata Petroleum Corporation. The business has diversified away from the oil industry since. The siblings also oversee Glazer Family Foundation Inc., a not-for-profit based in Tampa, Florida. Avram Glazer chairs Innovate Corporation, a group with interests in infrastructure, life sciences and the media. United, Lausanne and Nice aren't INEOS' only sporting forays; the group co-owns the Mercedes-AMG Formula One Team alongside Mercedes-Benz and Toto Wolff, as well as overseeing the successful INEOS Grenadiers Cycling Team and the INEOS Britannia sailing team. Originally, and away from sport, INEOS is a multinational conglomerate, primarily working in the chemicals industry. The group is a diverse one; alongside its chemical activities, INEOS is heavily active in the energy and consumer industries; Belstaff, a clothing brand for which Kate Moss used to model, forms part of the group's latter holdings. Largest shareholders: INEOS (29%) - Glazer Family combined owns 68% of voting rights Owned since: May 2005 Life on Tyneside changed forever on 7 October 2021, when Mike Ashley sold the club to a group headed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). The UK ownership vehicle sitting atop the club is PZ Newco Limited, which shares 100 per cent ownership of the club with two entities split according to the geographic location of Newcastle's shareholders. On one side sits NCUK Investment Limited, PIF's UK-based holding company. NCUK owns 84.64 per cent of PZ Newco, and thus Newcastle, up from 80 per cent when the takeover went through. On the opposite side is JV1 Limited, which now owns 14.4 per cent of the club, down from 20 per cent four years ago. JV1 Limited is wholly owned by RB Sports & Media Limited, itself wholly owned by Jamie Reuben, and the entity which owns the remaining 0.96 per cent of the club (in other words, Reuben's stake, split across two entities, is 15.36 per cent). Reuben only owned 50 per cent of JV1 when the takeover was completed, with the other half held by Amanda Staveley through Cantervale Holdings Limited. As money poured into Newcastle post-takeover, Staveley's percentage dwindled as a result of equity injections diluting her stake, until July of last year, when Cantervale's shares in JV1 were bought out completely by NCUK and RB Sports & Media. In layman's terms, the result of Staveley's departure has been to increase PIF's ownership stake by 4.64 per cent, and Reuben's by 5.36 per cent. Reuben owns all of the shares in both JV1 and RB Sports & Media now, though both companies list their ultimate parent company as Omaha Business Holdings Corporation (OBH), a business domiciled in the British Virgin Islands. OBH is owned by David and Simon Reuben, Jamie's father and uncle respectively, and appears to be highlighted as the controlling party of the minority stake in the club by virtue of being the entity which funds Jamie Reuben's companies further down the ownership chain. PIF own 75 per cent stakes in four clubs back home in the Saudi Pro League: Al Ahli, Al Hilal, Al Ittihad and Al Nassr, the latter being the current home of one Cristiano Ronaldo. PIF took up its holdings in those four clubs in June 2023, right before Saudi clubs spent over £700m on transfers that summer. NEOM Sports Club, named Club Al-Suqor until Christmas Eve 2023, are PIF-owned too, albeit via a limited company named NEOM, which shares its name with a planned city currently being built in the north west of Saudi Arabia. They'll play in the Saudi Pro League this season, following promotion. Diriyah Club, a second-tier side, are owned by a separate PIF subsidiary. The overarching influence of the state in Saudi Arabia and by extension PIF, its sovereign wealth fund, means there are further links if you look close enough. Al Qadsiah, another Pro League team, are officially owned by Saudi Aramco — in which PIF holds a 12 per cent stake. PIF went from being largely domestic-focused to significantly broadening its horizons in 2015, when it was placed under the direction of a newly formed Council of Economic and Development Affairs, with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman named as PIF's chairman. Developments since have been dizzying. PIF's entry into the world of sport hasn't been confined to football; arguably its most headline-grabbing move has been the establishment of the LIV Golf tour, a competitor to the established PGA Tour. PIF has invested £3.66bn in LIV since its formation in October 2021. PIF also has in place a multi-year strategic partnership with tennis' ATP. The blurred lines of private and state ownership make it difficult to put a clear number on things, but a report issued by Play The Game in December 2024 laid bare the extent of the fund's involvement in sport. The report found 346 separate examples of PIF or its subsidiaries having a hand in sport sponsorship over recent years. Ninety of those instances were in football, but in all, it covered 23 other sports; eSports, golf and boxing were the other leading lights. Away from sports, as the sovereign wealth fund of a Gulf state, PIF holds an array of diverse interests across multiple borders. When it comes to holdings in publicly traded U.S. companies alone, at the end of March 2025, PIF held stakes across 64 entities with a combined portfolio value of $26.6bn. The three largest stakes, by value, were in ride-hailing firm Uber ($5.3bn), Lucid Group, an electric vehicle company ($4.3bn) and Electronic Arts (EA), the video games giant ($3.6bn). PIF was involved, in 2017, in setting up the SoftBank Vision Fund, one of the world's largest technology investment funds. Other technological investments like Humain, an AI business launched three months ago, have followed. The EA stake is complemented by others in the gaming industry, like Nintendo. Separately, last December, PIF completed a 15 per cent purchase of shares in the holding company overseeing Heathrow Airport. At home in Saudi Arabia, PIF is involved in giga-projects like those at NEOM, Qiddiya and Red Sea Global, and has ties to countless domestic companies. Those include Saudi Aramco, Saudi Telecom, Saudi National Bank and Roshn. Sela, Newcastle's front-of-shirt sponsor, and Savvy Games Group, who partnered with the club's pre-season tour to Japan last year, are both PIF-owned. The list of the fund's interests, both at home and abroad, goes on far longer than anything mustered here. Separate from PIF, Jamie Reuben is a principal at family firm Reuben Brothers, set up by David and Simon. Jamie's existing UK directorships include 5 Hertford Street Limited, a Reuben Brothers-owned private members' club in Mayfair, Siren Capital London Limited, a management consultancy, and Reuben Foundation, the family's charitable arm. RB Sports & Media, owned by Jamie but ultimately via OBH by David and Simon, also owns Arena Racing Company, a British horse and greyhound racing group, and last year took up a stake in EDGLRD, a digital IP-based studio in the U.S.. More broadly, Reuben Brothers holds an array of investments and interests across multiple sectors, including shipping, aviation and credit financing. Largest shareholders: Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (85%) Owned since: October 2021 On 18 May 2017, Forest were taken over by NF Football Investments Limited (NFFI), a company co-owned by two Greek nationals, Evangelos Marinakis and Sokratis Kominakis. Marinakis, by virtue of his 80 per cent ownership of NFFI, is Forest's majority shareholder — and current chairman. Marinakis ceded control of the club temporarily at the end of April, as Forest pushed for a Champions League spot. With Olympiakos, another Marinakis-owned club, also likely to qualify for the UEFA competition, the Forest chairman placed his shares in a blind trust; Kominakis, who was appointed to the football club board in November 2023 but had not previously been a director of NFFI, was appointed as an NFFI director on the same day Marinakis ceded official control of the club. Forest's failure to qualify for the Champions League rendered that temporary reorganising moot, so on 6 June, Marinakis returned as a 'person with significant control' over the club. On the same day, the trio of independent trustees appointed as club directors five weeks earlier stepped down from their roles. That reorganising only came about due to Marinakis' stake in Greek champions Olympiacos. Marinakis took over there in 2010, initially acquiring a 67 per cent stake. His shareholding has increased since. Per a May club announcement in reference to Marinakis injecting further equity into Olympiacos, Abisso Holdings Limited, the Cyprus-based entity through which he owns his Olympiacos shares, owns 87.9 per cent of the Greek club. Six years after his investment into Forest, in 2023, Marinakis purchased an 80 per cent stake in Portuguese Primeira Liga club Rio Ave. Marinakis founded Capital Maritime & Trading Corporation, an international shipping company, in Greece in 2005. He remains the company's chairman today. Capital's fleet boasts over 100 vessels, making Marinakis one of the largest shipowners in Greece. He also owns around 75 per cent of Alter Ego Media (AEM), a major Greek media group which he floated on the Athens Stock Exchange in January of this year. AEM's revenues derive primarily from advertising, and the float was popular to the extent that it was almost 12 times oversubscribed. AEM includes among its portfolio Mega, Greece's largest TV station. Largest shareholders: Evangelos Marinakis (80%) Owned since: May 2017 Since February 2021, Sunderland have been owned by Mercator Investments Limited, a company domiciled in the Cayman Islands, and, as such, it is difficult to glean much information about them. There've been a few changes in individual stakeholdings in Mercator (and therefore Sunderland) since that date, with the most recently known shift coming in May 2023. Then, a club statement confirmed the club's ownership group had been whittled to just two members: chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, today still aged just 28, and Juan Sartori, who was the third member of the infamous Madrox Partners group, which preceded Louis-Dreyfus' arrival during the Covid-19 pandemic. Per club disclosures, Louis-Dreyfus owns a majority 64 per cent stake. Sartori owns the remaining 36 per cent. Sartori is on record in the past as having an interest in expanding into multi-club ownership, and in 2021 there were reports in Uruguay about an attempt to purchase CA Rentistas, now of the country's second division. That came to nothing and, currently, neither Sartori nor Louis-Dreyfus are known to own a stake in another club. That being said, Sartori does have a strong link to AS Monaco, who are two-thirds owned by Dmitry Rybolovlev, his father-in-law. Sartori joined Monaco's board in November 2021 and sits as the club's vice-president (his wife, Ekaterina, is also a vice-president). Sartori is Monaco's representative at the European Club Association (ECA), and was elected in September 2023 as one of several representatives for Subdivision One there, the highest-ranking such group within the ECA. A year later, he was elected to the decision-making body of the LFP, which oversees the French leagues. Louis-Dreyfus was able to buy into Sunderland principally via his inherited wealth, but his time at the helm has coincided with increasing activity elsewhere. In March 2021, he and his brother Maurice entered the world of eSports, investing in Ovation, a Swiss eSports company. Two years later, he and Sartori bought SX Global, the rights holder and operator of the FIM World Supercross Championships. SX Global is now wholly owned by Knobby Ventures, a Cayman Islands-based company (like Mercator). Louis-Dreyfus sits on the SX board alongside family lawyer — and Sunderland board member — Igor Levin and Oscar Léon, an Uruguayan business associate of Sartori's. In March of this year, Louis-Dreyfus set up two new UK companies: BIA Sports Group Holdings and Ultimate Rugby 7s UK, both registered at Sunderland's current administrative building (and club shop). Both of those businesses are wholly owned by SX Group Holding, another Caymans company. His and Sartori's motocross investment is listed on BIA's website, while the second company is linked to an European rugby sevens franchise league, due to launch in 2026. Tom Burwell, co-founded 68 per cent shareholder of Ultimate Rugby Sevens, is now CEO at BIA and sits on the board of the rugby company set up by Louis-Dreyfus. Separately, in 2023, Louis-Dreyfus founded Narion Holding AG, a Swiss holding company. Narion exists as device to hold diversified investments across private equity, real estate and venture capital. Per SEC filings in June of this year, both Louis-Dreyfus and Sartori were appointed to the board of Adecoagro S.A., a Luxembourg-based agricultural company which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and operates across Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Louis-Dreyfus will serve on the board for two years, Sartori as Executive Chairman for three. Those appointments arrived on the back of an El Salvador-registered stablecoin (a type of cryptocurrency) company Tether buying up 70 per cent of Adecoagro. In a July 2025 announcement regarding an agreement between Tether Holdings and Adecoagro, Sartori is highlighted as Tether's head of business initiatives. Tether bought a 37.8 per cent stake in Elemental Altus Royalties, a mining company with a focus on gold, in June; Sartori was again appointed to the acquired company's board, this time with Simon Vumbaca — a non-executive director at Sunderland. Intriguingly, Tether has also built up 10.7 per cent stake in Juventus, making it the club's second-largest shareholder. While both Sartori and Louis-Dreyfus have recent links to Tether, neither is a majority owner of the company, and there's no public evidence to suggest they hold an ownership stake. In a prior SEC filing on Tether's Adecoagro purchase, Sartori is referred to as an 'advisor' to Tether and its majority shareholder, Giancarlo Devasini. Sartori chairs Union Group International Holdings (UGIH), an investment firm with strategic interests in Latin America, covering agriculture, energy, forestry, infrastructure and real estate. Via UGIH and Arvesa Corporation — the company through which Sartori held his Sunderland shares as part of the previous ownership group — he owns 37.8 per cent of Moolec Science, a molecular farming company based in Luxembourg but listed on the NASDAQ. Sartori disclaimed his beneficial ownership over those shares, so such ownership legally rests with his two companies. Largest shareholders: Kyril Louis-Dreyfus (64%) Owned since: February 2021 Since 2001, Spurs have been majority-owned by ENIC Sports Inc., a company incorporated in the Bahamas. Following a £35m share issue on 31 December 2024, which increased its holding by a third of a per cent, ENIC's shareholding sits at 86.91 per cent, with the remaining 13.09 per cent spread across thousands of individual shareholders. ENIC is owned by a number of discretionary trusts, with the largest stake in ENIC a 70.12 per cent holding owned by a discretionary trust benefitting members of Joe Lewis' family. Lewis stepped back from his ownership role in October 2022 after being charged with insider trading by U.S. federal prosecutors, which he later pleaded guilty to. Bryan Glinton and Katie Booth, two lawyers based in the Bahamas, run the trust on behalf of Lewis' family members. The remaining 29.88 per cent of ENIC is owned by trusts benefiting current chairman Daniel Levy and his own family members. Levy has day-to-day control over Spurs and has long been the public face of the club's ownership. ENIC's purchase of a majority stake in Spurs came at a time when the group held stakes in a number of clubs across Europe. At one point, ENIC owned holdings in six different clubs: Spurs, Rangers in Scotland, Basel in Switzerland, Vicenza in Italy, Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic and AEK Athens in Greece. ENIC unsuccessfully sought to overturn a UEFA rule aimed at preserving integrity of its competitions, ostensibly to stop two clubs controlled by the same entity or person from competing against one another. Thereafter, ENIC divested all of its football stakes other than Spurs, and the club is currently not part of a wider footballing group. It is unclear which other business interests Joe Lewis has stepped back from in the wake of the insider trading case, and similarly unclear which of his previous holdings now reside in the trust which owns shares in Spurs. Lewis founded Tavistock Group in 1975, a Bahamas-based global investment firm with a focus on real estate, hospitality, agriculture and financial services. Alongside Spurs (via ENIC), Tavistock's investments include: Lake Nona, a planned community in Orlando, Florida; NEXUS, an international hospitality company; a health and wellness testing company; and plenty more besides. Daniel Levy, alongside being Spurs chairman, is ENIC's managing director. Largest shareholders: Discretionary trusts potentially benefitting the family of Joe Lewis (61%) Owned since: February 2001 Unravelling the full share ownership of West Ham is now a rather Byzantine task, though at the top of the tree, there's a familiar face. Co-chairman David Sullivan remains the largest shareholder, with a 38.77 per cent holding split across him personally (29.73 per cent) and a trust in his name (9.05 per cent). Sullivan's co-chair is Vanessa Gold, who inherited a 25.07 per cent shareholding from her late father and Sullivan's business partner, David Gold. Again, that holding is split across amounts held by David Gold personally and now by his estate (17.22 per cent) and further amounts held by three trusts in his name (combined holding: 7.85 per cent). In November 2021, a Czech investment group named 1890s Holdings A.S. purchased a 26.99 per cent stake in the club for £182.5m, with £125m of that comprising new shares and providing a cash boost to West Ham. That purchase was fronted by Daniel Kretinsky, who now sits on West Ham's board, though his shareholding isn't as large as the stake bought by 1890s Holdings. Kretinsky's beneficial ownership of 1890s Holdings sits at 50.45 per cent, meaning his beneficial stake in West Ham is 13.62 per cent. Next in line is Albert 'Tripp' Smith, an American businessman with an eight per cent stake in the club. Smith arrived at the club in September 2017. Other than 1.16 per cent split across Englishmen Daniel Bruce Harris and Terence Brown (former club chairman and now honorary life president), the location of the remaining 13.38 per cent in West Ham shares is determined by who owns the remaining near-half of 1890s Holdings. Various companies enter the corporate structure at this point, with the remaining shares tracing back to at least four Cypriot companies and one in the Czech Republic. Deciphering all of the individuals behind those is a sleuth's dream, but the upshot is that a little under 11 per cent can, using publicly available information from Czech company filings, be sourced to a grouping of nine Czech businessmen and women. The largest individual stake among those belongs to Patrik Tkac, whose beneficial holding in West Ham is at least 2.16 per cent (it may be a smidge higher). Tkac is, naturally, a close business associate of Kretinsky beyond their football holdings. Following Kretinsky's arrival, West Ham have a link to Czech side Sparta Prague, who are 99.9 per cent owned by 1890s Holdings. Kretinsky's majority ownership of 1890s Holdings, therefore, makes him a majority owner at Sparta Prague. Inclusive of his West Ham postings, Sullivan holds 26 current appointments at British companies, several of them related to property development. He and David Gold made their early fortunes from the adult entertainment industry; Vanessa Gold is now company chair of Ann Summers, an adult retailer, and her father's estate remains the company's controlling party. Kretinsky is chairman and majority shareholder of EPH, a Czech energy company which recorded €23bn in revenue in 2024. EP Group, which holds Kretinsky's shares in EPH, completed a £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail in June of this year. Elsewhere, through Vesa Equity Investment S.a.r.l, a Luxembourg-based private equity company he co-owns with Tkac (Kretinksy holds a slight majority), Kretinsky has holdings in several high-profile businesses. Vesa is currently the second-largest shareholder in J Sainsbury plc, a British supermarket chain, and the third-largest shareholder in Foot Locker, an American footwear retailer. It also owns minority stakes in PostNL, a Dutch postal operator, Fnac Darty, a European retail business, Quadrant, another mail-related business, based in France, and TF1 Group, a French free-to-air TV network. Largest shareholders: David Sullivan (38%) Owned since: January 2010 Fosun International Holdings Limited (FIHL), a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, took Wolves over on 21 July 2016, and remains at the helm nearly a decade on. FIHL is owned by two Chinese businessmen, Guo Guangchang and Wang Qunbin. Guangchang is the majority shareholder, owning 85.29 per cent of FIHL, per recent Hong Kong Stock Market filings for another Fosun company. PEAK6, a U.S.-based investment firm, bought a 7.99 per cent holding in 2021 in Fosun Sports Group, a Luxembourg-based entity which sits above the club but below FIL. That holding was bought back by Fosun last November, returning 100 per cent ownership in Wolves Fosun. Correspondingly, Guangchang and Qunbin hold beneficial stakes in the club to the same proportions as their FIHL shareholdings: 85.29 per cent for Guangchang, 14.71 per cent for Qunbin. Fosun set up the aforementioned Fosun Sports Group in June 2021, which looked to be the start of a move into multi-club ownership. But no investments into other clubs and PEAK6's sale of its Fosun Sports Group stake suggests no eventual move into multi-club ownership is imminent. Fosun Sports Group's most notable holdings, other than Wolves, are two businesses — EZ Games and Restar — which work in games publishing in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Japan, alongside a company focused on cultural development in Shanghai. While no other clubs come under the Fosun banner, Wolves did announce two partnerships with East Asian clubs last year. First, in April 2024, they linked up with Japanese J-League team Shonan Bellmare, with a focus on brand exposure and player development. Then, on Christmas Eve, they announced a partnership with the Chinese side Nantong Zhiyun, again with a focus on developing young players. Fosun is a multinational conglomerate, covering various industries: asset management, banking, entertainment, fashion, food and drink, retail, real estate and tourism all fall under the Fosun banner. Based on Fosun's 2024 annual report, its three biggest revenue-generating sectors were 'happiness' (39.5 per cent of annual turnover), 'wealth' (28.5 per cent) and 'health' (24.0 per cent), which is intentionally close to sounding like a feel-good slogan. Yuyuan Inc., a commerce and tourism business which includes a large retail conglomerate, heads the happiness sector (Fosun Sports, and thus Wolves, are included here); wealth is led by Fosun Insurance Portugal; meanwhile, health is helmed by Fosun Pharma, which, again, does what it says on the tin. Fosun's business is sprawling and spans over 100 companies. Largest shareholders: Guo Guangchang (85%) Owned since: July 2016 (Top image — Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; James Baylis/AMA, Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA, Ric Tapia, Tom Jenkins,) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
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- New York Times
Aston Villa season preview: Focus is on a Champions League return, but lack of recruitment is a worry
Unai Emery enters his third full season as Aston Villa manager with the same burning desire for progress. His side were bruised and battered after failing to qualify for the Champions League last season, doomed by a woeful performance at Manchester United on the final Sunday when even a point would have done the job. Advertisement Though they still secured a Europa League spot, it was the first time that Villa's rise under Emery has not been linear; this backwards step, albeit a very small one, will pose a challenge in terms of whether they can get back up and battle the increasingly strong competition around them for those precious seats at UEFA's top table. So, with that said, what are we to expect from Villa's 2025-26 campaign? Allow The Athletic to discuss… To be in the Champions League. Villa do not plan to be in European club football's marquee competition every year, but the nature of missing out on goal difference on the season's final day in May — it turned out they only needed a point at Old Trafford but still ended up losing 2-0 to a United side who were 16th in the 20-team table heading into the game and coming off a painful Europa League final defeat four days earlier — was haunting. Emery does not accept regression on a wider scale, so a Champions League spot is a target. There is an acknowledgement, however, that Villa have not been able to spend the money they would have wanted to this summer, influencing recruitment and general approach. This is during a time when expected competitors for a top four/five finish are splashing big sums on top-bracket players. This leads us nicely onto Villa's summer transfer window so far. In truth, it has been slow and tough-going, with Villa restricted on what they can spend due to UEFA Squad Cost Rules (SCR) and having to bring their salary level below 70 per cent of overall revenue. This has impacted the wages that can be paid to prospective players, but also, with Villa still mindful of domestic profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), has led to a tailored budget. For instance, they would ideally like to sign a central defender and an attacker, which requires more money. This cannot happen until further departures materialise, including midfielder Jacob Ramsey, who is close to joining Newcastle United. Advertisement This season will be Villa's third in a row playing at European level. UEFA rules state that clubs in its three competitions can lose no more than €60million (£51.6m; $70.1m at current rates) over three years, plus a possible €10m per year if European football's governing body deems them to be in a 'good' financial state. Consequently, UEFA's version of PSR — called The Football Earnings Rule — is tighter than in the Premier League, which permits losses of up to £105m across such a period. For now, Villa have wisely recruited goalkeeper Marco Bizot from Brest, who will be the No 2, as well as forward Evann Guessand, a long-standing scouting target of theirs, from another side in France's Ligue 1, Nice. Villa have missed several players due to financial constraints that never, really, put them in the race. They wanted Spanish club Real Betis' winger Jesus Rodriguez, who instead joined Como in Italy, and Sverre Nypan, the Norwegian teenager who has ended up at Manchester City, plus many others they could not go for due to monetary limits. At the time of writing, Villa are undecided whether to follow up on an initial offer for Toulouse central defender, Jaydee Canvot. They have looked at goalkeepers and signed Bizot, yet Emiliano Martinez's exit, surprisingly to him, has not transpired. This has been the case in other areas, with Villa unable to bring a player through the door until another heads out. Contracts have been signed. Tyrone Mings, Boubacar Kamara and Lucas Digne so far, with more hoping to be negotiated. Villa have a new president of business operations in Francesco Calvo, following the departure of Chris Heck. He has been brought in to strengthen the relationship with supporters, having had experience working with fan groups in previous roles at Barcelona, Roma and Juventus. Advertisement Donyell Malen has been direct and emphatic in his finishing. As The Athletic wrote earlier in the summer, the Netherlands international was confident he would kick on after a taxing first four months in the Midlands after his January arrival from Borussia Dortmund in Germany. He has looked in fine fettle, as does England striker Ollie Watkins, who has finally had a few months to rest with no major tournament this summer and looks all the better for it. Can I be boring and say just, 'Watching Villa?' There is nothing better than an evening kick-off at Villa Park. The home team seem to play at an altogether different intensity and at a much greater level than the sum of their parts on those occasions. A third straight year in Europe — completing the set with the Europa League following Conference League (reaching the semi-finals) and Champions League (quarter-finals) participation — is very fun. Their team standing still while others move forward. Villa's summer window has not been as ambitious as staff and supporters would have liked due to the reasons outlined earlier, made all the more difficult to comprehend when clubs such as Manchester United are spending up to £200million ($271.6m) on three new forwards. Emery is always confident in his abilities and the environment he has created at the club being strong enough to adapt and overcome any challenge. Preferably, he would have liked to refresh and augment the squad more than he has, though he knows keeping key players is equally imperative. It is why he has underlined the necessity of Villa focusing on contract extensions. Is 100 per cent allowed? No? OK. I'll go as sure as you can be, unless some supergiant of the game makes him a ludicrous offer. He certainly will not be sacked, as Emery essentially runs all things football at Villa now. So… 95 per cent. Villa evolve tactically. Playing in the same controlled structure works most of the time but opponents had growing success in recognising how to stifle them, especially in last season's big, defining matches. It does not have to be a change in formation — although Emery has experimented with a back three during pre-season — just subtle tweaks to their approach, both in and out of possession. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
