Identity can't be bought

Ten years ago, fewer than 60 clubs worldwide belonged to a network with a shared owner. By the end of 2025, according to UEFA, there were more than 345. From City Football Group to Red Bull, multi-club ownership is no longer an experiment.

The idea was simple: buy a small club, develop talent and move the best players up to the big club, as City does. For many networks, that model is breaking down.

Take Eagle Football. John Textor bought Lyon with over 400 million dollars in borrowed money and built a chain with Botafogo and RWDM. Botafogo won the Copa Libertadores, but saw money flow out to a struggling Lyon. In March 2026, the lender pulled the plug. Botafogo filed for protection from creditors, RWDM dropped into amateur football and Lyon was sold. Share money and debt, and you share the risk too.

Then Strasbourg. On the pitch, things were better than in years, with the first European semi-final in club history. Still, in April fans marched with Chelsea supporters to Stamford Bridge in protest against shared owner BlueCo. Anyone who stands out in Strasbourg leaves for London. Even the head coach was taken mid-season. Strasbourg remains Chelsea's feeder club.

Red Bull shows what happens when an owner shapes every club in one image. Salzburg got a new name and colours, Leipzig was built almost from scratch and every club plays one fixed style. It works on the pitch, but costs the clubs their identity.

Wrexham AFC shows it can be done differently. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the club in 2021 for around 2.5 million dollars. They changed nothing about the name or colours, but made the city the story through the Disney+ series. The club is now valued at around 475 million dollars. Without debt, and with its identity intact. Now they are repeating the formula in Mexico as part of the investor group behind Club Necaxa.

Then there's Estrella Football Group, which excites me. It is building a horizontal network of lower-division clubs, such as Cascais in Portugal. No flagship, no B-team. Every club keeps its own colours and identity, but shares what a small club could never afford alone: data, infrastructure, commercial partnerships and a digital platform. It's early days, but I believe this is the future of multi-club ownership.

I think the commercial opportunity for MCOs lies mainly in one partner proposition for multiple clubs, shared fan data to increase sponsorship value and an international business network where entrepreneurs strengthen one another. A local sponsor gains access to new markets, and an international partner reaches multiple cities and fanbases with one deal. An MCO can claim what so many clubs are chasing: the biggest and most valuable business network.

The economies of scale sit behind the scenes, while the identity stays local. The goal isn't simply to own more clubs. It's to build a platform where every club can grow, perform and create value together.