{"id":4196,"date":"2021-03-10T14:50:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T13:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/?p=4196"},"modified":"2022-08-16T08:51:02","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T06:51:02","slug":"foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign investors in Danish club football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past decade, international club football has developed into a giant entertainment industry, with capital-rich investors across countries and continents radically changing the clubs\u2019 ownership structure. One of the world\u2019s largest football clubs \u2013 Manchester United \u2013 with an annual turnover of more than DKK 5 billion \u2013 is today owned by a number of private foundations affiliated with the American Glazer family. One of Europe\u2019s top clubs \u2013 Paris Saint-Germain \u2013 is owned by the state-owned company \u201cQatar Sport Investments\u201d, which has invested billions of DKK in top international sports. A third example of capital interests across countries and continents is the big club FC Inter from Milan, which is owned by the privately owned Chinese supermarket chain \u201cSuning Holding Group\u201d. However, it is not only the ownership structure of Europe\u2019s largest football clubs that has changed radically \u2013 the same development has taken place in Denmark.<\/p>\n

\n

Danish clubs are strongly influenced by the global, commercial development<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Danish football clubs\u2019 finances in the form of TV income, transfers of players, sponsorship income and Matchday income are of course on a completely different level than the clubs in the biggest European leagues. The annual turnover of Danish top clubs such as FC Copenhagen and FC Midtjylland is less than 15% of the annual turnover of bottom clubs in the Premier League such as Fulham F.C. and Sheffield United or top clubs like Norwich City F.C. and Swansea City A.F.C. from Championship. Nevertheless, the ownership structure of many Danish clubs is also undergoing significant change due to the global, commercial development within international club football. Since the English businessman Matthew Bentham, who also owns the English Championship club Brentford FC, in 2014 bought the majority of the shares in FC Midtjylland, 9 out of 24 clubs in the country\u2019s two best leagues \u2013 the Super League and the Nordic Bet League \u2013 have been acquired by foreign investors who own more than half of the clubs\u2019 shares.<\/p>\n

The majority of Danish clubs on their way to \u201cforeign hands\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

FC Nordsj\u00e6lland, which for a number of years has collaborated with the English businessman Tom Vernon\u2019s \u201cRight to Dream Academy\u201d in Ghana, was bought a few months ago by the Egyptian \u201cMansour Group\u201d. S\u00f8nderjyskE was bought last autumn by the American financial matador Robert Platek, who a few weeks ago also bought the Italian Serie A club Spezia. In addition, Vejle Boldklub from the Super League has also come \u201cinto foreign hands\u201d by Andrej Zolotko \u2013 a former player agent from Moldova \u2013 and the Chinese player agent Lucas Chang. And most recently, three more Super League clubs \u2013 Randers FC, AC Horsens and AaB \u2013 have offered themselves to potential foreign investors. It is thus very realistic that more than half of the Super League clubs will in a short time be owned \u2013 in whole or partly \u2013 by foreign investors. This is already the case in the second best row, where half of the clubs \u2013 Vendsyssel FF, Fremad Amager, FC Helsing\u00f8r, Esbjerg fB and HB K\u00f8ge \u2013 within the last 2-3 years have been acquired by foreign investors. There are several explanations for this development.<\/p>\n

Danish clubs as a \u201cspringboard\u201d to a major league<\/strong><\/p>\n

Firstly, Danish clubs are a relatively easy and cheap access for international club owners to bring young players from especially Africa and South America to one of Europe\u2019s strongest leagues, where transfers of players have been exponentially increasing in recent years. It is not uncommon for the sale of a talented striker to the second-best league in England \u2013 the Championship \u2013 to bring in up to \u00a3 10 million. And the amounts are of course significantly higher if it succeeds in selling or reselling players to the five biggest leagues in Europe: Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1. The Danish clubs are thus used primarily as a \u201cspringboard\u201d , as it is easy to get a residence and work permit as a football player in Denmark, no matter where you come from in the world. The easy access to residence permits is a great advantage for club collaborations, which have become increasingly widespread in international football.<\/p>\n

Foreign investors typically own several clubs in Europe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secondly, Danish clubs that have foreign owners typically enter into a formal collaboration or informal network with other clubs in Europe. The collaborations are characterized by an investor or a circle of investors buying the majority of shares in two or more clubs, which i.a. is the case in Esbjerg f.B. The traditional club was acquired a few weeks ago by an American and Chinese investor group, which also owns the majority shares in the English Championship club Barnsley FC, AS Nancy from France, KV Oostende from Belgium and FC Thun from Switzerland. Barnsley FC and AS Nancy in particular have significantly greater sporting and financial potential with the three clubs from the smaller leagues, which will primarily function as \u201ca food chain\u201d for young, cheap talent and as good talent development environments. In addition, the clubs can also easily borrow or rent the individual players across the individual clubs by a joint group of owners.<\/p>\n

Low levels of wages and well-organized society<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thirdly, the Danish rules mean that the players from e.g. Africa and South America do not have to have a particularly high wage, compared to other European countries such as Netherlands. The relatively open business model in Denmark is something that attracts foreign investors. There are not many restrictions either from the Danish authorities or from the Danish Football Association (DBU) and the Association of League Clubs (Divisionsforeningen) if you want to buy a Danish football club. In addition, Denmark is also a stable and well-organized country with a strong infrastructure and a high level of education. Finally, many of the young players from Africa and South America also come to a country where most speak English \u2013 a language that the talents can greatly enjoy and benefit from later in their careers.<\/p>\n

FCN and FCM have sold many talents through strong academies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fourthly, Danish club football has also been able to develop some very strong football academies, especially in FC Nordsj\u00e6lland and FC Midtjylland. At these academies, a number of \u201csalable talents\u201d have been developed, both from Africa, South America and Denmark, which have been successfully sold and resold to strong clubs in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. These include Emre Mor (Borrusia Dortmund), Mohammed Kudus (Ajax) and Mikkel Damsgaard (U.C. Sampdoria) from FCN and Simon Kj\u00e6r (AC Milan), Pione Sisto (Celta Vigo) and Paul Onuacho (KRC Genk) from FCM. About clubs such as Vendsyssel FF, Helsing\u00f8r FC and Fremad Amager are also able to develop talents similar to FCN and FCM is in my opinion extremely questionable.<\/p>\n

Foreign investors involve (also) great risks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, it is not odious that foreign investors invest capital in Danish football clubs. And there are many indications that most foreign owners have bought several of the clubs relatively cheaply. In my opinion, however, there are several risks in that the majority of shares in a Danish football club are placed with one or a few foreign investors without local affiliation in the club. I do not think that foreign investors will maintain their commitment to the club, unless marketable players are developed within a foreseeable period of time \u2013 only thereby will a \u201creasonable\u201d return on the \u201cinvestment\u201d be achieved. And in that connection, in my opinion, there is only room for 3-4 attractive talent academies in a small country like Denmark with only 5 million. inhabitants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past decade, international club football has developed into a giant entertainment industry, with capital-rich investors across countries and continents radically changing the clubs\u2019 ownership structure. One of the world\u2019s largest football clubs \u2013 Manchester United \u2013 with an annual turnover of more than DKK 5 billion \u2013 is today owned by a number … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nForeign investors in Danish club football · MA57 Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Foreign investors in Danish club football · MA57 Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the past decade, international club football has developed into a giant entertainment industry, with capital-rich investors across countries and continents radically changing the clubs\u2019 ownership structure. One of the world\u2019s largest football clubs \u2013 Manchester United \u2013 with an annual turnover of more than DKK 5 billion \u2013 is today owned by a number ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MA57 Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-10T13:50:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-16T06:51:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"micand57@gmail.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"micand57@gmail.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"micand57@gmail.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6\"},\"headline\":\"Foreign investors in Danish club football\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-10T13:50:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T06:51:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/\"},\"wordCount\":1262,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/\",\"name\":\"Foreign investors in Danish club football · MA57 Consulting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-10T13:50:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-16T06:51:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Hjem\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Foreign investors in Danish club football\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/\",\"name\":\"MA57 Consulting\",\"description\":\"Livet er ikke en sportsgren for tilskuere\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MA57 Consulting\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png\",\"width\":122,\"height\":44,\"caption\":\"MA57 Consulting\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6\",\"name\":\"micand57@gmail.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/author\/micand57gmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Foreign investors in Danish club football · MA57 Consulting","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Foreign investors in Danish club football · MA57 Consulting","og_description":"Over the past decade, international club football has developed into a giant entertainment industry, with capital-rich investors across countries and continents radically changing the clubs\u2019 ownership structure. One of the world\u2019s largest football clubs \u2013 Manchester United \u2013 with an annual turnover of more than DKK 5 billion \u2013 is today owned by a number ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/","og_site_name":"MA57 Consulting","article_published_time":"2021-03-10T13:50:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-16T06:51:02+00:00","author":"micand57@gmail.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"micand57@gmail.com","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/"},"author":{"name":"micand57@gmail.com","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6"},"headline":"Foreign investors in Danish club football","datePublished":"2021-03-10T13:50:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-16T06:51:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/"},"wordCount":1262,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/","name":"Foreign investors in Danish club football · MA57 Consulting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-03-10T13:50:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-16T06:51:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/foreign-investors-in-danish-club-football\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Hjem","item":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Foreign investors in Danish club football"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/","name":"MA57 Consulting","description":"Livet er ikke en sportsgren for tilskuere","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#organization","name":"MA57 Consulting","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/logo.png","width":122,"height":44,"caption":"MA57 Consulting"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38422011d47f9227ca8f55f8d73e87e6","name":"micand57@gmail.com","url":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/author\/micand57gmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4197,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4196\/revisions\/4197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma57.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}