Who Really Owns European Football?

Manchester City is on the cusp of proving that it is now the dominant force in European football. Whether the English team wins or loses in the Champions League final this weekend, it’s probably a matter of when — not if — that happens. But it might not have turned out that way.

Back in 2007, investors from Dubai attempted to buy Liverpool, only to lose out to US rivals. A Middle Eastern approach for Manchester United was also dismissed by the club’s US-based owners, the Glazer family. A year later, the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment bought Manchester City from a former prime minister of Thailand and promised to bring “the best football players in the world” to the club.

Fast forward, add at least $2 billion spent on players and the latest training facilities, and Manchester City could become the first state-backed club to triumph in the world’s best-known club competition. The victory would follow the surprise golf deal struck this week by Saudi Arabia to team up with the PGA Tour, and would underscore the new era where investors with seemingly endless riches are bidding to reinvent global sports.

Bloomberg News looked at Europe’s top five domestic leagues to uncover how the ownership across 98 clubs has changed since 2005, when the Glazers completed their takeover of City’s rival Manchester United for close to $1 billion including debt. The analysis shows how the world’s most popular sport morphed from an expensive bit of fun for local bigwigs into a serious play for power and profit.

Sovereign wealth funds or their subsidiaries now own five clubs, including Manchester City, whose owners have transformed into City Football Group. Then there’s Wall Street. Investment firms, such as private equity, sports management groups and alternative asset managers, own or are the major shareholders in 12 clubs, including England’s Chelsea and France’s Lyon.

Funds Build Control Over European Football

Clubs in five top-tier domestic leagues by type of owner or major shareholder

Club supporters, members, self-owned

High-net-worth individuals

High-net-worth individuals

Club supporters, members, self-owned

Across five leagues | Out of 98 clubs

Investment firms and sovereign wealth funds own

17% of clubs in Europe’s biggest domestic leagues

Club supporters, members, self-owned

High-net-worth individuals

Across five leagues | Out of 98 clubs

Investment firms and sovereign

wealth funds own 17% of clubs in

Europe’s biggest domestic leagues

Club supporters,

members, self-owned

High-net-worth

individuals

Across five leagues | Out of 98 clubs

Investment firms and sovereign

wealth funds own 17% of clubs in

Europe’s biggest domestic leagues

The English Premier League and France’s Ligue 1 have seen the most activity among the big leagues Bloomberg News analyzed. Germany’s Bundesliga, where the power is held by a club’s members rather than owners, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A have seen the fewest transactions.

Club supporters, members, self-owned

High-net-worth individuals

High-net-worth individuals

Club supporters, members, self-owned

PREMIER LEAGUE ENGLAND | Out of 20 clubs

LIGUE 1 France | Out of 20 clubs

BUNDESLIGA GERMANY | Out of 18 clubs

SERIE A ITALY | Out of 20 clubs

LA LIGA SPAIN | Out of 20 clubs

Club supporters, members, self-owned

High-net-worth individuals

PREMIER LEAGUE ENGLAND | Out of 20 clubs

LIGUE 1 France | Out of 20 clubs

BUNDESLIGA GERMANY | Out of 18 clubs

SERIE A ITALY | Out of 20 clubs

LA LIGA SPAIN | Out of 20 clubs

Club supporters,

members, self-owned

High-net-worth

individuals

PREMIER LEAGUE ENGLAND | Out of 20 clubs

LIGUE 1 France | Out of 20 clubs

BUNDESLIGA GERMANY | Out of 18 clubs

SERIE A ITALY | Out of 20 clubs

LA LIGA SPAIN | Out of 20 clubs

From AC Milan to Newcastle United, some of the continent’s best-known clubs have changed hands. Some new owners are deploying sporting assets as a diplomatic tool. Others are aiming to turn football into the cash cow it’s never managed to be. And some are taking advantage of clubs needing money after seeing their finances crippled during the pandemic.

It’s easy to see why. The Premier League, Europe’s richest domestic competition, only generates marginally more money than the NHL ice hockey league. An attempt to create a lucrative European Super League without the jeopardy of relegation and collapse of income — much like the NFL — failed in 2021, but it hasn’t gone away.

The spending spree doesn’t look like it’s ending. Manchester United is still considering whether to sell to either local billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, a Qatari group enriched by the Gulf state’s massive natural gas exports, or to a variety of US hedge funds and asset managers.

But clubs owned by investment funds have found success in the Champions League elusive. Since 2013, when Paris Saint-Germain first made the quarter finals under Qatari control, Real Madrid boasts the most victories, with five wins. The team is run by Spanish billionaire Florentino Perez, who is elected by the members who still own the club rather than any rich individual or group of investors.

Saturday’s prestige final gives Manchester City another chance to become the first club owned by a sovereign fund to win Europe’s top prize, two seasons after it lost to Chelsea, then owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The match in Istanbul sees City play Inter Milan, a team owned by a Chinese retail conglomerate that has borrowed heavily from a US asset management firm.

Funds Struggle to Win Europe’s Most Prestigious Football Trophy

Clubs in the final rounds of UEFA Champions League, by type of owner or major shareholder

Club supporters, members, self-owned

High-net-worth individuals

Fund-owned clubs are

making Champions

League’s final rounds

more frequently the

last few years…

…but Liverpool

is the only club

owned by an

investment firm

to have won it.

Manchester City

could become the

first club to win it

for a sovereign

wealth fund

High-net-worth individuals

Club supporters, members, self-owned

Fund-owned clubs are

making Champions

League’s final rounds

more frequently the

last few years…

…but Liverpool

is the only club

owned by an

investment firm

to have won it.

Manchester City

could become the

first club to win it

for a sovereign

wealth fund

Club supporters, members, self-owned

High-net-worth individuals

Fund-owned

clubs are making

Champions League’s

final rounds more

frequently the

last few years…

…but Liverpool

is the only club

owned by an

investment firm

to have won it.

Manchester City

could become the

first club to win it

for a sovereign

wealth fund

Club supporters,

members, self-owned

High-net-worth

individuals

Fund-owned

clubs are

making the

final rounds

of Champions

League more

frequently the

last few years…

…but Liverpool

is the only club

owned by an

investment firm

to have won it.

Manchester City

could become the

first club to win it

for a sovereign

wealth fund

“In 1983, when I joined the board of Arsenal, it was the local businessman who invested in the club he loved,” said David Dein, the former vice chairman of Arsenal in London. “Then it became millionaires, then billionaires and now sovereign states.”

So what’s changed? Football is no longer a weekend hobby for the rich. Instead, the cost of running a club has pushed out local investors and replaced them with some of the world’s richest pools of capital, who are buying clubs not only to make money, but also influence their global standing.

Both Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia now own major clubs in northern England, and look set to become one of the most important property investors in first Manchester, then Newcastle. Gulf neighbor Qatar has also turned Paris Saint-Germain into a luxury asset, replete with a 4,400 square-foot (409 square-meter) store on Fifth Avenue.

Football is a procession of rich men watching even richer men come and throw more money on the table.

Dein made his money as a sugar trader, and bought a 16.6% stake in Arsenal in 1983 for £292,000 ($364,000). The man who he bought from, club Chairman Peter Hill-Wood, called Dein “crazy.” “To all intents and purposes it’s dead money,” he said at the time.

While the size of Dein’s stake rose and fell in the following years, by 2007 he sold his remaining 14.58% to Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov for a reported £75 million.

Usmanov joined fellow Russian billionaire Abramovich, who bought Chelsea in 2003 for £140 million, in the Premier League. Abramovich spent more than $1 billion on players and won 21 trophies as owner of Chelsea. (He was forced to sell the club following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A group of US-based investors bought it for about £2.5 billion.)

Newcastle United owner John Hall, a miner’s son who made his money mainly from real estate development, sold the club to retail tycoon Mike Ashley a few years after Abramovich bought Chelsea. “No way could I compete with Abramovich,” Hall recalled. “I couldn’t risk my family business for football. Now billionaires and state funds have taken it to a different level.”

Dein summed it up:

“Abramovich parked his tanks on our lawn and it was firing £50 notes. New owners today are firing €500 notes.”

Today, Dein’s former club Arsenal is owned by the holding company of Stan Kroenke. The American is among a group of billionaires in football that also include Dan Friedkin at AS Roma and British businessman Joe Lewis at Tottenham Hotspur. Manchester United bidder Ratcliffe, who made his fortune from oil and chemicals, owns OGC Nice in France.

Clubs were previously owned by an equally eclectic — but less wealthy — group, with proprietors ranging from porn barons to steel magnates. Ownership was more the realization of a childhood dream that — almost always — was destined to lose money, even until recently.

Take Real Zaragoza. By 2014, after an historically successful run despite its modest resources, the Spanish club was close to liquidation. A series of desperate phone calls led to Cesar Alierta, then chief executive officer of Spanish phone giant Telefonica, along with two other local investors, saving the club.

“Alierta’s father was the club president in the 1950s so he grew up with that experience at home,” said Fernando Sainz de Varanda, the former CEO of Real Zaragoza and Alierta’s nephew. “He said his dad would have never forgiven him to not save Real Zaragoza if he had the chance to do so.”

Alierta spent more than €8 million ($8.6 million) to save the club, but failed to earn promotion. The dream of taking the club to its old glory was unfeasible. Eight years later, Real Zaragoza was sold to a group of investors including the co-owners of Inter Miami CF and a partner of Ares Management Corp, a US investment firm.

“At the beginning it was mostly local people but there has been the entrance of investment funds that seek profitability,” said Sainz de Varanda. “When they bring executives from outside, they will make decisions with the head, not with the heart, and in football there is a very important part that’s decided with the heart.”

Today, football clubs are just as likely to be owned by foreign investors as by local businessmen. Investment firms and high-net-worth individuals from the US have been the biggest buyers of football clubs in recent years, now owning close to a fifth of the top European teams, compared to just two out of 98 back in 2005. Petro-states have built their investments from million-dollar bets to sporting conglomerates worth billions.

Americans Are Coming for European Football

Clubs in five top-tier domestic leagues by place of origin of owner or major shareholder

Europe (outside

club’s country)

Across five leagues | Out of 98 clubs

Local ownership has gone down 40%

compared to nearly 20 years ago

Europe (outside

club’s country)

Across five leagues | Out of 98 clubs

Local ownership has gone

down 40% compared to

nearly 20 years ago

Europe (outside

club’s country)

Across five leagues | Out of 98 clubs

Local ownership has gone

down 40% compared to

nearly 20 years ago

Europe (outside club’s country)

“This industry had been family-owned businesses for many years — now they are major organizations and have to be run professionally,” said Jim Miller, partner and co-head of US direct lending and sports, media and entertainment at Ares. “That is an evolution that we started to see over the last 10 years, and there’s still runway for improvement.”

In 2005, there were no foreign investors in the Italian, German and Spanish leagues, according to the Bloomberg News analysis. Part of the reasoning for the influx of cash since then is that football, despite its global ubiquitousness, has yet to become a money-making machine. And therein lies the potential, goes the thinking.

Compared with US leagues in terms of global dollars generated, the English Premier League is a relative minnow. The NFL brings in about $19 billion a year at present, and the US baseball and basketball leagues make more money than the Premier League, whose teams are expected to bring in about $7 billion. That’s only slightly higher than the NHL.

The fact that football’s richest league brings in slightly more money than ice hockey is seen as a golden opportunity for foreign investors. In the US, sports teams are often viewed as media assets, defined by local market share and billion-dollar local broadcasting rights.

“A lot of sport leagues and competitions are able to maintain lucrative broadcast contracts, with which comes strong financial benefits for the teams involved, making them more and more appealing as a source of revenue for the new owners coming in,” said Minal Modha, research director at Ampere Analysis, a data and analytics firm in London.

European football clubs are also a lot cheaper. A consortium including Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour recently paid $500 million to buy the rights for a new US Major League Soccer team in San Diego. To buy an NFL team, you need billions in ready cash. American investor Robert Platek took over Italian Serie A side Spezia in 2021 for a reported €25 million.

It’s not the first time America has piled into soccer — and lost its shirt. The question is now whether the latest crop of owners has the financial acumen to make money.

Who Owns Europe’s Biggest Football Clubs

Owner or major shareholder as of June 7, by type

Investment firms

Sovereign wealth funds

High-net-worth individuals, family offices

Club supporters, members, self-owned

Corporates

Other, multiple

👆Click/tap on a club’s name to show details or expand all

Premier League
England

Aston Villa

NSWE Group

Stake: 100%

Origin: Various

Chelsea

Clearlake Capital

Stake: 62%

Origin: US

Leeds

Aser Group

Stake: 56%

Origin: Italy

Liverpool

Fenway Sports Group

Stake: 100%

Origin: US

Southampton

Sport Republic

Stake: 80%

Origin: Denmark/Serbia

Wolves

Fosun Sports

Stake: 92%

Origin: China

Manchester City

City Football Group

Stake: 81%

Origin: Abu Dhabi

Newcastle

Public Investment Fund

Stake: 80%

Origin: Saudi Arabia

Arsenal

Stan Kroenke

Stake: 100%

Origin: US

Bournemouth

Bill Foley

Stake: 100%

Origin: US

Brentford

Matthew Benham

Stake: 100%

Origin: UK

Brighton

Tony Bloom

Stake: 75%

Origin: UK

Everton

Farhad Moshiri

Stake: 94%

Origin: UK/Iran

Fulham

Shahid Khan

Stake: 100%

Origin: US/Pakistan

Leicester City

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha

Stake: 100%

Origin: Thailand

Manchester United

Glazer family

Stake: 69%

Origin: US

Nottingham Forest

Evangelos Marinakis

Stake: 100%

Origin: Greece

Tottenham

Joe Lewis

Stake: 60%

Origin: UK

West Ham

David Sullivan

Stake: 39%

Origin: UK

Crystal Palace

Eagle Football; Josh Harris and David Blitzer

Stake: 80% (each party owns a 40% stake)

Origin: US

Ligue 1
France

Clermont

Core Sports Capital

Stake: 100%

Origin: Switzerland

Lille

Merlyn Partners

Stake: 100%

Origin: Luxembourg

Lyon

Eagle Football

Stake: 78%

Origin: US

Toulouse

Red Bird Capital

Stake: 85%

Origin: US

PSG

Qatar Sports Investments

Stake: 100%

Origin: Qatar

Troyes

City Football Group

Stake: 100%

Origin: UAE

Angers

Said Chabane

Stake: 90%

Origin: France

Auxerre

James Zhou

Stake: Majority

Origin: China

Brest

Denis Le Saint; Gerard Le Saint

Stake: 100%

Origin: France

Lens

Joseph Oughourlian

Stake: 100%

Origin: France

Lorient

Loic Fery

Stake: 60%

Origin: France

Marseille

Frank McCourt

Stake: 98%

Origin: US

Monaco

Dmitry Rybolovlev

Stake: 67%

Origin: Russia

Montpellier

Nicollin Family

Stake: 100%

Origin: France

Nantes

Waldemar Kita

Stake: 100%

Origin: France

Nice

Jim Ratcliffe

Stake: 100%

Origin: UK

Reims

Jean-Pierre Caillot; Didier Perrin

Stake: 100%

Origin: France

Rennes

Francois Pinault family

Stake: 100%

Origin: France

Strasbourg

Marc Keller

Stake: 29%

Origin: France

Ajaccio

Ajaccio Imperial Corse Investissement

Stake: 100%

Origin: France

Bundesliga
Germany

Hertha

777 Partners

Stake: 79%

Origin: US

Hoffenheim

Dietmar Hopp

Stake: 96%

Origin: Germany

Bayern Munich

FC Bayern München eV

Stake: 75%

Origin: Germany

Bochum

VfL Bochum eV

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt eV

Stake: 68%

Origin: Germany

Freiburg

SC Freiburg eV

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Gladbach

Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 eV

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Koln

1. FC Köln eV

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Mainz

1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 eV

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Schalke

Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 eV

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Stuttgart

VfB Stuttgart eV

Stake: 87%

Origin: Germany

Union Berlin

1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V.

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Werder Bremen

SV Werder eV

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Bayer Leverkusen

Bayer AG

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Leipzig

Red Bull Gmbh

Stake: 99%

Origin: Austria

Wolfsburg

Volkswagen AG

Stake: 100%

Origin: Germany

Augsburg

David Blitzer-backed Hofmann Investoren

Stake: 99%

Origin: Various

Dortmund

Free float

Stake: 67% (includes BV Borussia eV’s 4.6% stake)

Origin: Various

La Liga
Spain

Girona

City Football Group

Stake: 48%

Origin: Abu Dhabi

Almeria

Turki Al-Sheikh

Stake: 96%

Origin: Saudi Arabia

Atletico

Miguel Angel Gil

Stake: Majority

Origin: Spain

Cadiz

Manuel Vizcaino

Stake: Minority

Origin: Spain

Celta Vigo

Carlos Mouriño

Stake: Majority

Origin: Spain

Elche

Christian Bragarnik

Stake: 90%

Origin: Argentina

Getafe

Ángel Torres Sánchez

Stake: 100%

Origin: Spain

Mallorca

Robert Sarver

Stake: 98%

Origin: US

Rayo Vallecano

Raúl Martín Presa

Stake: 100%

Origin: Spain

Real Valladoid

Ronaldo Nazario

Stake: 82%

Origin: Brazil

Sevilla

Jose del Nido and partners; Carrión family and Sevillistas del Nervion

Stake: Each party owns 38%

Origin: Spain

Valencia

Peter Lim

Stake: About 85%

Origin: Singapore

Villareal

Roig family

Stake: 99%

Origin: Spain

Athletic Bilbao

Club members

Stake: 100%

Origin: Spain

Barcelona

Club members

Stake: 100%

Origin: Spain

Betis

Supporters

Stake: No single person owns more than 10%. Businessmen Angel Haro and Jose Miguel Lopez Catalan are largest shareholders

Origin: Spain

Osasuna

Club members

Stake: 100%

Origin: Spain

Real Madrid

Club members

Stake: 100%

Origin: Spain

Espanyol

Rastar Group

Stake: 100%

Origin: China

Real Sociedad

Multiple shareholders

Stake: 100%

Origin: Spain

Serie A
Italy

Milan

RedBird Capital Partners

Stake: Majority

Origin: US

Atalanta

Stephen Pagliuca; Percassi family

Stake: 86%

Origin: Italy

Bologna

Joey Saputo

Stake: 100%

Origin: US

Cremonese

Arvedi family

Stake: 100%

Origin: Italy

Empoli

Fabrizio Corsi

Stake: 100%

Origin: Italy

Fiorentina

Rocco Commisso

Stake: 100%

Origin: US

Hellas Verona

Maurizio Setti

Stake: 100%

Origin: Italy

Juventus

Agnelli family

Stake: 78%

Origin: Italy

Lazio

Claudio Lotito

Stake: 67%

Origin: Italy

Lecce

Saverio Sticchi Damiani

Stake: 54%

Origin: Italy

Monza

Silvio Berlusconi

Stake: 100%

Origin: Italy

Napoli

Aurelio De Laurentiis

Stake: Majority

Origin: Italy

Roma

The Friedkin Group

Stake: 96%

Origin: US

Salernitana

Danilo Iervolino

Stake: Majority

Origin: Italy

Sampdoria

Massimo Ferrero

Stake: Majority

Origin: Italy

Sassuolo

Squinzi family

Stake: 100%

Origin: Italy

Spezia

Robert Platek

Stake: 100%

Origin: US

Torino

Urbano Cairo

Stake: 100%

Origin: Italy

Udinese

Pozzo family

Stake: 100%

Origin: Italy

Inter

Suning Holdings Group

Stake: 69%

Origin: China

Private equity investor Ellis Short was one of the first wave of US financiers into English football, buying Sunderland in late 2008. He spent an estimated £200 million on the club, only to see it eventually relegated twice in consecutive seasons. He eventually sold up for a reported £50 million in 2018.

Billionaire Randy Lerner — then owner of the Cleveland Browns — also had a go with Aston Villa, buying the Birmingham club for the equivalent of about $110 million in 2006, selling it for $90 million a decade later, and spending about $400 million along the way.

This time around, football’s new investors aren’t just rich individuals ready to spray cash around in the bid for glory. Now they’re some of the world’s most sophisticated investors, normally content to construct complex debt instruments or circle struggling corporate giants.

Manchester City’s Champions League final rival Inter Milan is owned by Chinese retail conglomerate Suning. After struggling to finance the team, Inter took out an emergency €275 million loan in 2021 from Howard Marks’s Oaktree Capital. If Inter isn’t able to repay the debt, the loan could turn into equity and hand Oaktree control of the club, not unlike how Elliott Investment Management gained control of AC Milan, Inter’s local city rival, in 2018.

Despite the sophistication of the new investors, some old habits die hard. US private equity firm Clearlake Capital, along with credit investor Todd Boehly, has spent hundreds of millions on players for Chelsea over the past 12 months, only to see the club finish in its worst league position in 30 years and miss out on a place in lucrative European tournaments.

Others spent, too, but have succeeded. Newcastle United was bought in October 2021 by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund for £300 million. That’s about $70 million less than the as-yet-to-be created San Diego franchise.

Newcastle has been one of England’s biggest football clubs, but has languished — last winning a trophy in 1969. In its first year under the Saudis, the club spent over £100 million to avoid relegation. It kept on spending and has now qualified for the Champions League for the first time in two decades.

Billionaires Who Own European Football Clubs

Funds might be taking over European football, but high-net-worth individuals looking for sports glory or just to steer their local team still own dozens of clubs. Here’s a look at a selection of billionaire owners.

Francois Pinault founded luxury goods empire Kering. He bought Rennes in 1998 and his son Francois-Henri (pictured), the CEO of Kering, oversees the club.

Jim Ratcliffe built his fortune through chemicals manufacturer Ineos. He also owns cycling, sailing and motorsport teams as well as Nice and Lausanne football clubs. He now wants to buy Manchester United.

Stanley Kroenke is a US real estate mogul known for investments including the Los Angeles Rams NFL team and Denver Nuggets in the NBA. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment took full control of Arsenal in 2018.

Silvio Berlusconi became one of Italy’s most influential people through his media business. The former prime minister bought AC Milan in the 1980s. He sold it in 2017 and acquired Monza a year later.

Italian-born US businessman Rocco Commisso started his career as a banker, but made his money from cable TV. A footballer as a student at Columbia University, he bought the New York Cosmos and then Fiorentina.

Dan Friedkin is CEO of the Friedkin Group, a consortium founded by his father that owns a distributor of Toyota vehicles. Friedkin became owner and president of Serie A side AS Roma in 2020.

Joe Lewis is a British businessman who made his fortune from currency trading and investments in real estate, restaurants and resorts. Lewis owns a majority stake in Tottenham Hotspur.

Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha is CEO of King Power International Group, the biggest duty-free operator in Thailand and owner of Leicester City since 2010. He took on the top role at the club after his father died in a helicopter crash in 2018.

Bill Foley, who made his money in finance, owns the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. Last December, he acquired Bournemouth in a deal that valued the Premier League team at £120 million.

Not everyone wants outside interference. Germany’s Bundesliga boasts well-run and successful clubs like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. But for investors, it’s an unwelcoming place because of strict ownership requirements that have for decades favored fans over financiers.

Rules prevent a commercial investor from holding more than 49% of voting shares in any club, giving fans co-ownership and a say in strategic decisions. The edict has been credited with keeping wage bills and ticket prices low, but it’s also prevented the Bundesliga from signing the kind of multi-billion-dollar deals that have bolstered its European rivals.

“Buying into a football club, but not getting the power to freely make decisions — that’s a very unattractive model for large investors,” said Sascha Raithel, a marketing professor at Berlin’s Free University.

There are exceptions. VfL Wolfsburg is owned by carmaker Volkswagen AG and Bayer 04 Leverkusen by pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG. They’re exempt from the rules because their owners have invested consistently over more than two decades. RB Leipzig is backed by Austrian energy drink maker Red Bull GmbH.

And even in this last bastion of “how it used to be”, Americans are also making inroads. Miami investment firm 777 Partners LLC this year bought a stake in Berlin’s Hertha BSC, after David Blitzer, the Blackstone Inc. executive, broke ground two years ago by investing in Augsburg.

“Football in general and football clubs in particular have a unique power and place in people’s lives,” said Josh Wander, co-founder of 777 Partners, which also owns Italian club Genoa, Vasco da Gama in Brazil and Standard Liege in Belgium. “We believe that the extent to which this relationship has been harnessed has only just started to be realized.”