Middle East Investment in European Football

  Charlton Athletic is a medium-sized soccer club from Charlton, England. The club has had four periods in England’s top league, the most recent one from 2000-2007. The club has never won the top flight, though it did win the FA Cup in 1947 after losing in the finals the year before. A club with a long, but undecorated history dating back to 1905, they currently compete in England’s third division, the English Football League One. In November 2019, Charlton was bought by East Street Investments (ESI), an investment fund from Abu Dhabi. There were reports of approval from the English Football League (EFL) in January 2020, but future disagreements arose. In March there was a dispute between the owners and there were rumors that the main investor was walking back and pulling out of the deal. The EFL then made a statement that the takeover had in fact not been approved, and placed a transfer embargo on the club until June 2021 because the new owners lacked proof of funding. In April 20...

  Aston Villa FC is a club soccer team located in Birmingham, England. They were one of the original founders of the Football League in 1888 and of the newer Premier League in 1992. They have a decorated history, being one of only 5 English teams to lift a European Cup (now called the UEFA Champions League). They have won the top flight and FA Cup 7 times each, in addition to 5 League Cups. Recently, however, the club has been in a bit of a rough patch, though they appear to be coming out of it. Aston Villa FC is a club soccer team located in Birmingham, England. They were one of the original founders of the Football League in 1888 and of the newer Premier League in 1992. They have a decorated history, being one of only 5 English teams to lift a European Cup (now called the UEFA Champions League). They have won the top flight and FA Cup 7 times each, in addition to 5 League Cups. Recently, however, the club has been in a bit of a rough patch, though they appear to be coming out of ...

Everton FC is a soccer club located in Liverpool, England that is competing in the Premier League. With a long history, they were one of the founding members of the top-flight league in 1888 and have only missed out on four seasons since then. Although unsuccessful in recent years, Everton has won multiple league titles and FA Cups, and even a European Cup Winners’ Cup. In 2016, Iranian-British billionaire Farhad Moshiri bought a 49.9% stake in the club, after selling his minority stake in Arsenal. In the last 6 years, he has increased his ownership of the club to 94%. Interestingly enough, unlike some of the other clubs mentioned in this blog, there is not much controversy associated with the takeover from a financial perspective. On the contrary. While PSG and Manchester City are often in question regarding adhering to Financial Fair Play rules, despite being a multibillionaire, Moshiri has failed to provide enough proper financial backing in order to improve. In the past 3 years, wh...

In June 2010 a majority stake in the Spanish La Liga team, Malaga, was purchased by Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani, a Qatari Businessman. In 2012, fans became overjoyed as the Qatari spent around $80 million assembling a squad containing big names like Spain's double European champion Santiago Cazorla, and Dutch defender Joris Mathijsen. In just two years after the acquisition, Malaga completed its best season by finishing fourth place in La Liga and securing a spot in the Champions League. However, while other clubs with foreign-owned clubs continued to invest, suddenly for inexplicable reasons no more money was flowing into the club. It was rumored that Al Thani had lost interest in investing any more in Malaga due to Malaga not gaining the TV rights they wanted and due to lack of urgency from Spanish authorities in regards to his Marbella hotel, port, and football academy projects. Following this, players such as Cazorla and Mathisen left to Arsenal and Feyernord respectively, and Mal...

  Manchester City wasn't always the powerhouse they are today. From 1996 to 2003 they faced multiple relegations and promotions jumping from division to division. Manchester City went on a rapid rise to upper-tier English soccer in 2008. This is all due to the new owner at the time Sheikh Mansour . After 13 years he has amassed 5 premier league titles, through an investment that is close to 3.5 billion dollars. Mansour is the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Mubadala Investment Company. He oversees over 243 billion dollars, while also being the deputy prime minister of Abu Dhabi. It seems illegal that he is able to be a high-serving politician while managing such a large sum of money. Mansour also owns the City Football Group, which has teams in all major cities like New York and Melbourne.  Recently, Mansour had a meeting with Bassar al-Assad, president of Syria and ally of Vladamir Putin. This was a major red flag by the footballing world because the Syrian President is bei...

  How does football catch the attention of so many multibillion-dollar middle east owners? I am sure that a billionaire has everything that they dreamed of in life, from private planes to mansions and supercars, but they do not have one thing and that is recognition. Money may be able to buy a lot of materialistic things but money in itself cannot buy you worldwide recognition. It is what you do with your money that does that. The purchase of a football club offers the opportunity to open the sports world and all its fans into recognizing your name. A billionaire's name gets worldwide recognition by being simultaneously intertwined with the club, from the players who play there to the clubs’ success and failures. In terms of Middle Eastern investors, it is a bit more complex than looking for notoriety . Like it or not, the world of sports and more specifically the world of football is intertwined with politics because it holds a global audience. Inside that global audience are a ve...