Owning a soccer club may sound like every fan’s dream, but in reality, it is a far from easy task. Soccer clubs, particularly at the highest level, require significant levels of investment, with no guarantee of sporting or financial success. There are many different ways of running a club, with associations and foundations being the
in European soccer. Other clubs are owned by wealthy groups and individuals, with Sheikh Mansour and Jim Ratcliffe ranking among the
worldwide. More recently, multi-club ownership has become more common - a trend which poses a number of difficult questions for the future of the sport.
Multi-club ownership: the future of soccer?
Since 2014, the
number of multi-club investments in European soccer has grown, with 38 such transactions in 2023. A potential advantage of such ownership structures is the ability to pool resources and knowledge, with the
largest multi-club projects owning more than 10 clubs. While this may be beneficial for club owners, many fans remain unconvinced: over 40 percent of
Premier League fans opposed multi-club ownership as recently as 2022. It also raises questions about potential conflicts of interest, yet UEFA cleared Manchester City and Manchester United to take part in its competitions against clubs with the same owners in 2024/25.
What is City Football Group?
City Football Group (CFG), arguably the highest profile multi-club project in soccer, owns clubs all over the world. The
most valuable City Football Group club is Manchester City, which generated over 700 million British pounds in revenue in 2023. CFG’s prized asset has had almost unparalleled success on and off the pitch in recent years, winning the
UEFA Champions League in 2023, yet it still faces some obstacles in the near future, including an investigation into alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play rules and uncertainty over the future of Pep Guardiola. Whatever the future holds for CFG, multi-club ownership in soccer seems here to stay.
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