Yank Owners Abroad

Tim Leiweke rejected because of concerns over multi-club ownership.

Edited:

Venezia is one of the clubs.

Benfica previously rejected an investment by John Textor.

 

Lol, the more I look into this, the more it kinda-sorta-almost looks like a stock manipulation tactic? The agreed sale price was 70% above market value, and it did push listed shares of SLB to a new all-time high at the beginning of May...

 

The rationale for the investment was that Leiweke is a stadium development expert and Benfica are looking to develop their stadium and expand their non-soccer entertainment business.

 

Yeah, just now reading about the "Benfica District Project". I expect we'll hear more US-based investment firms sniffing around this summer. It sounds like Benfica only had to put this to a member vote because of Leiweke's stake in another club

 

Meanwhile in EFL League Two"

Shrewsbury Town have moved a step closer to being sold to an American consortium with the prospective buyers understood to be undergoing the English Football League's owners and directors test.

BBC Radio Shropshire reports that terms of a takeover have been agreed, with documents submitted this week to the EFL and the new Independent Football Regulator.

 

Does this one even count as a Yank owner?

Fehérvár FC Set for U.S. Takeover with Benfica-Linked Investor

Hard to figure out who is the figurehead here, since there's like 3 or 4 different "Final Third LLCs" according to Google. The Benfica link makes me wonder if its a Portuguese company who are registering a shell company in the US for either tax or compliance reasons...

Videoton FC Fehérvár are currently in the Hungarian 2nd division after being a top-flight side for 25+ years.

 

That reminds me, I must put some t-shirts in the washing machine.

 

According to the recently released documentary All About The Money, Fergie Chambers (an heir to the Cox Communications empire, an avowed Marxist, and a person currently in international legal trouble after being accused of funneling millions of his inheritance towards various Palestinian liberation groups) "owns" Club Africain in Tunisia, although some sources merely describe him "investing in" or "sponsoring" in the club.

What's clear is that the Saudi billionare who bought the club around 2017 left them in massive debt, and Chambers was among the "guardian angles" who kept the club afloat. This article in a Tunisian paper claims that he "injected" roughly €4m into the club in 2024 and was initially involved in day-to-day operations, but that he slowly distanced himself since. However, an older article from the same outlet about his involvement of the club shows him issuing statements that sound like someone who holds decision making power at the club. Because I don't know anything about Tunisia, I don't know what to make of all this...

Despite the internal turmoil, Club Africain are the current champions of the Tunisian top-flight, their first league championship since 14/15. They're the 2nd most decorated club in the country, and are one of the 3 Tunisian clubs to have won the CAF Champions League.