European football is a thing for rich Americans

Football continues to evolve, as is normal. Within these modernization stages, the owners section appears. Being increasingly common to see powerful billionaire investors become owners of a club where they can spend their large fortunes. It is there where the new and main protagonists of recent months in European football come into play, where a strong source of money has been growing to the economic coffers of the teams: americans.

The business of buying a club, investing huge amounts of money and making galactic transfers, with the main objective of placing the team at the top of the championship of their country, it's not just a matter of sheikhs anymore. The Americans, who for several years had already been interested in this business, they have begun to grow and spread their tentacles across Europe. Without going any further, as it collects the study carried out by the consultancy KPGM, own up to one fifth of the 60 clubs that make up the top divisions England (Premier League), Italy (Serie A) and France (Ligue 1).

Further, in some of the examples it is not uncommon to see that they handle several properties at the same time. That is, both a franchise of one of the 'Majors' of the United States (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL or MLS) and a European football team.

The Glazer, Kroenke or Fenway Sports, classics in the Premier

In the English Premier League, however, for several years, the Americans have already managed to establish themselves somewhat in advance. Without going any further, they manage up to three of the famous Big-6, facing the strong conglomerate that manages the 'City Football Group' under the mantle of Manchester City or the Russian Roman Abramovich and his Chelsea.

– Manchester United: via the Glazer family, who arrived in 2005 and, in turn, own the NFL's Tampa Bay Bucaneers. They are one of the most controversial properties in the entire Premier League, having virtually every 'Red Devils' fan against them.

– Liverpool: through Fenwway Sports Group, also the parent company of the MLB's Boston Red Sox. And, yes, LeBron James, brand new NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, is also part of it, after buying 2% of the English club's shares in 2011.

– Arsenal: managed by Stan Kroenke (according to Forbes, with a fortune close to 10 billion dollars in 2020), who takes the cake directing the Los Angeles Rams (NFL), Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), Colorado Rapids ( MLS), Colorado Mammoth (NLL), plus two more Esports teams (LA Gladiators and LA Guerrillas).

– Southampton: his case is particular, since, at the moment, he is not owned by any American. However, it seems that for a short time, because its current owner, the Chinese Gao Jhinseng, intends to sell the club for 220 million euros to the American Joseph DaGrosa, founder of MapleWood Partners. In fact, DaGrosa would have already sold its shares in the Girondins de Bordeaux.

– Newcastle: like the 'Saints', his current property is not American. But, it could be in the near future. After they backed off the purchase of the PCP Capital Partners consortium (with the support of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia), the way seems to open again for the American to enter the scene Henry Mauriss, who was already linked at the beginning of 2020 with the team of the 'magpies'.

Elliot in the resurrection of Milan and the “cheerleader” Commisso

The four American Series A owners arrived between 2018 and 2020.

– Milan: one of the most particular cases, since they are led by the American investment fund Elliott Management since 2018. They came as a result of the mismanagement (and investigated) of Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management, with the Chinese Li Yonghong at the head. With the Americans, in addition, the 'rossoneri' seem to be back afloat.

– Fiorentina: The first to disembark on his Italian adventure was the eccentric and striking Rocco Commisso, born in Calabria (Italy), but raised in the United States since he was 12 years old. He is a billionaire businessman, founder and CEO of Mediacom. As a result of his fortune, in the summer of 2019 the Della Valle family bought Fiorentina for between 150 and 200 million euros. In addition, he also owns the historic New York Cosmos.

– Rome: On August 6, 2020, the sale of the 'wolf' took place. Dan Friedkin, CEO of 'The Friedkin Group', bought the equipment for 591 million euros. This meant the end of James Pallota's stage at the head of the entity comes to an end. In his case, it passed from American hands to equal ones.

– Parma: a month later, another American entered Serie A. It was the Krause Group, which obtained 90% ownership of the Italian team in Parma. Kyle Krause was appointed as president, who managed to create and grow his fortune through 'Kum & Go', a supermarket chain.

Marseille and Toulouse, the American satellites in France

– Olympique de Marseille: the majority owner of the Marseille team is businessman Frank McCourt (he manages 95%), who arrived in 2016 after buying that percentage from the French Margaret Louis-Dreyfus. Former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was one of the “culprits” of the signing of Andoni Zubizarreta as sports director.

– Toulouse: With the relegation of the team to Ligue 2, in summer RedBird Capital Partners bought 85% of the property, with Gerry Cardinale, its founder, as the visible head. Its partners include the owners of the New York Yankees (MLB) or the Dallas Cowboys (NFL).