This is how we got here. Daring Club de Bruxelles were formed in 1895 and after absorbing other local clubs in 1920 they became Royal Daring Club Molenbeek. The team changed its name to Royal Daring Club de Bruxelles in 1950. Twenty years later, the name was finally changed back to Royal Daring Club Molenbeek.. White Star Club de Bruxelles was founded in 1909. In 1963 the club merged with Racing de Bruxelles to become Royal Racing White. In 1973 Royal Racing White and Daring merged to become R.W.D. Molenbeek, short for Racing White Daring Molenbeek. In 1976-77 they reached semi-final of the UEFA Cup. The club went bankrupt in 2002. But no matter, K.F.C. Strombeek were finger licking good enough to relocate and rebrand as became F.C. Molenbeek Brussels Strombeek They were dissolved in 2014. Meanwhile a group of fans started a new club called RWD Molenbeek at level 8 in the Belgian pyramid and by 2015 they had risen to level 5. This was the club that Textor and other investors bought in 2015 and tried to get the RWDM Molenbrook above history reinstated to. I think I have this right. I'm as reliable as AI and drank a whole cup of coffee researching this.
Well done. Belgium has a long history of clubs going bankrupt, only to reemerge as another club or make their way back from the bottom levels.
But surely pro/rel prevents this. Only kidding! English football also has a long history of clubs going bankrupt but the very generous financial administration laws and historic lack of sanctions make it look like they've operated continuously while the entire business side has been revamped. Sheffield Wednesday will start next season in League One with -15 points and a transfer ban, with just 7 players under contract. Their prospective American, owners Arise Capital Partners, are trying to get the ban partially lifted so they can field a team. Historically Wednesday have the 13th biggest average attendance in English football,15th best record in terms of top-flight performance and are ranked 14th in terms of trophies won with 4 Championships, 3 FA Cups, 1 League Cup and 1 Community Shield.
Update with RWDM, they finished 13th place in the Challenger Pro League, but due to some interesting rules, three of the teams who finished lower than them, Club NXT, Anderlecht Futures and Jong Genk are U23 teams and can not be relegated, so RWDM goes down. That will lower the value of the club as they will be in the 1st National Division next season.
Americans are owning World Soccer. Sportico's latest valuations. I think there's one, maybe two teams on here that aren't all or part Yank owned.
Ho..hum "F*CK OFF LAFC" 😳The record Swiss champions Grasshoppers, staring down the barrel of relegation once more and freshly eliminated from the cup by second-tier opposition, make their feelings about their Los Angeles owners perfectly clear.More ⬇️📹 @blueSport_de pic.twitter.com/5pY4iqAaRX— Craig King - 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗦𝘄𝗶𝘀𝘀EN (@FootballSwissEN) April 26, 2026
Dunno if it has been posted yet, but this BBC article tackles MCO issues with UEFA. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cgj0qlvj9qno
The odd thing is that the Swiss league is really down this season, but GCZ has not been good at all. This in not a new thing either. The GCZ fans do not like being at the bottom of the table, and in reality, LAFC has done little to help, or hurt the club.
They seem to be in the exact place they've been since getting promoted in 20/21. Maybe they were expecting some Hollywood magic, or Heung Min Son on loan.
Tim Leiweke and Francesca Bodie have invested €100M ($117M) into Venezia FC The investment makes Leiweke and his daughter the club’s principal minority shareholders, with Bodie named the club’s first female president, replacing Duncan Niederauer and becoming the lone woman to hold that position currently in Serie A. Leiweke and Bodie were introduced to the Venice-based club by Drake, who is also part of Venezia’s ownership group. Trump-pardoned exec Tim Leiweke invests in Venezia at Drake's behest - ESPN
Alfreton Town have been put up for sale by owner Will Rush, just 12 months after he bought the club. The American has struggled to generate revenue, including a failed worldwide token scheme that raised just under £125k. The Reds were relegated from the National League North last season.
Bolt Holdings is looking to sell newly promoted SK Bevern in Belgium. They were just promoted back to the JPL after an undefeated season in the CPL. "In the past, General Manager Sports Bob Peeters and CEO Bart Foubert never denied that SK Beveren might well be sold if the right offer was made. The American owners seem genuinely determined to strike while the iron is hot this coming summer. SKB remained undefeated for an entire season, putting itself firmly in the spotlight."
Alfreton is a small former mining town (pop 25k) on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. Fan base is probably evenly split between Forest and Derby with a few Chesterfield and Sheffield supporters.
Oops! JOHN TEXTOR 7 April, 2025 Communication of John Textor affirming Financial Strength of RWDM Following recent speculation shared by certain media outlets, we would like to provide factual clarifications and set the record straight regarding the annual license renewal of RWDM. RWDM has submitted its annual license application to the RBFA, accompanied by a favorable opinion of its statutory auditor, as supported by robust financial guarantees from RWDM‘s ultimate parent company, Eagle Football Holdings Limited. The RBFA Licensing Commission has clearly responded to questions from French and Belgian journalists, emphasizing that, without referring specifically to the RWDM case, the summoning of a club in no way implies that it will be denied a license. This point was explicitly clarified and leaves no room for misinterpretation. Unfortunately, this situation once again highlights the unjustified targeting, by certain French football organizations, of the project supported by EFG, inappropriately recruiting journalists to publish false and misleading stories regarding EFG’s impressive multi-community football project. We would like to factually remind everyone that RWDM has received its license every year since its promotion to the Pro League, and that the current situation is strictly identical to that of the past three seasons — none of which triggered this kind of media uproar at the time. In our ongoing commitment to transparency and rigor, we specify that RWDM, like eight other Belgian clubs, was summoned by the Licensing Commission with similar requests for clarification. It was, however, only RWDM that saw routine licensing inquiries mischaracterized as problematic. After receiving a favorable initial review, RWDM is currently required to respond to only two very specific questions: 1) "Please provide a sworn statement from the competent administrative body of Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited certifying that these funds originate from the assets of the legal entity, that they have not been made available to it by a third party (legal entity, financial institution, or any other natural person), and that it is free to dispose of them. The competent administrative body must also declare that it has no other interest in any other Belgian professional football club." Regarding this question, we can confirm that the sizable cash balance, shown on Eagle's balance sheet, is assuredly Eagle's cash and is available to our business and subsidiaries. 2) "Please submit all documents on which your statutory auditor based their assessment of the comfort letter provided by Eagle Football Holdings Bidco Limited." Regarding the second question, please find below the translated English comments from the "independent and impartial auditor", confirming the validity of the comfort letter submitted to our federal football authorities.
Aurelio De Laurentiis has rejected a huge offer for Napoli. Italian media report that an American investment company wanted to pay about two billion euros for the Italian club, but that De Laurentiis does not intend to sell the club. The offer came from a group of American investors, with Italian-American businessman Matt Rizzetta at the helm. Rizzetta is active as chairman of Napoli Basket and owner of Serie C club Campobasso. The talks would have lasted months, but in the end the process stalled even before an official due diligence was started. De L. would never have seriously considered relinquishing Napoli. He has been at the helm in Naples since 2004, after he revived the bankrupt club. Under his leadership, Napoli grew into a regular top club in Italy, with several league titles and European success as a result. According to Italian reporting, the American plan was not only about football, but also about broader investments in sports and infrastructure in Naples. Among other things, a project would have been considered in which football, basketball and stadium development were connected. However, De L. keeps the door closed. The 76-year-old chairman wants to continue building on Napoli, which will celebrate its centenary next year. In doing so, he focuses on two major files: finding a successor to Antonio Conte and the plans for a new stadium.
His more famous uncle was an American citizen. He produced Barbarella, Flash Gordon, Evil Dead II and totally messed up Dune.
Flash Gordon is still one of my favorite movies. It was amazing. Ming's plastic hair was legendary. "Flash Gordon, Quarterback New York Jets"
I should mention that Salford City is partially American owned but the ownership group is complicated. They lost to Notts County in the League Two playoff final. I'm not sure what plan is. There were barely 5,000 Salford fans at Wembley, so even after 12 years of celebrity ownership they're struggling to find a fan base.
Interesting, I had to look it up: Salford City FC Acquired by New Ownership Group | Official Salford City FC website
Royal Antwerp is looking to obtain a 100 million Euro loan from the investment group Carlyle. This would allow them to pay of current debts and consolidate all debt into one source. Although not really an owner, but a creditor.
Once they borrow from Carlyle that's it. No forgiveness, no restructuring, either they fix things or it's over.