How the EFL Championship's 8 richest owners made their money | OneFootball

Football League World takes a look at how the Championship's richest owners really made their wealth

The Championship is set to open up new opportunities for teams to reach the promised land in 2026-27, with an expanded play-offs potentially giving club owners another reason to splash the cash.

The second tier of English football is notoriously a tough one to get out of without the help of parachute payments, although that dream has been achieved by the likes of Coventry City, Sunderland, Luton Town and Huddersfield Town in recent years.

Owners at the level though tend to need to have deep pockets to put together a competitive team, but how did the Championship's wealthiest money-men make their cash in the first place? FLW takes a look...

Fosun International - Wolves

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When Wolves were taken over in 2016 by Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, they were getting the Midlands outfit at a time where they had just stabilised in the Championship once more, and despite investing into several overseas businesses, this was their first move into football ownership.

Some 10 years later, and there has definitely been plenty of trials and tribulations of their running of the club at Molineux, but despite some early managerial upheaval, but within three years, they were not only back in the Premier League, but also in European competition.

That was the peak of Fosun's time of owning Wolves - there has been a managed decline since, and one that has ended in relegation to the Championship, but the Chinese business are sticking firm with their plans for the club, with Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes seemingly having a say in matters too, particularly with the hiring of new head coach Cesar Peixoto.

As far as Fosun's wealth goes, with Companies Market Cap in June 2025 valuing their net worth at a stunning £20.53 billion, the company was formed in 1992 by Guo Guangchang and four of his business associates, starting with market research before a few years later investing in healthcare, steel and real estate in China, with their assets and profits growing exponentially in the early 2010s.

That allowed Guangchang and his company to start investing in overseas businesses, and a year prior to purchasing Wolves, Fosun invested in British travel company Thomas Cook Group, albeit that only lasted a few years before heading into liquidation, although Thomas Cook Holidays was founded by Fosun off the back of that after purchasing the Thomas Cook brand for a knock-down £11 million price.

Fosun also invested in Canadian circus and entertainment group Cirque du Soleil in 2015, as well as US insurance company Meadowbrook the year prior, in what was a real show of their wealth - they however no longer own any of Thomas Cook, Cirque or Meadowbrook nowadays, and it was reported in 2022 that the Chinese company were set to sell $11 billion worth of assets at the end of 2022 due to their falling profits.

Daniel Kretinsky - West Ham United

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David Sullivan is still the person that holds the biggest individual stake at newly-relegated West Ham, but it is Daniel Kretinsky who is the main money-man at the London Stadium, with the 27 per cent shareholder (which could be increased in the near future) having a net worth of $10 billion (£8.68 billion), as per Forbes.

Czech businessman Kretinsky became involved in the Hammers back in November 2021, purchasing his stake along with colleague Pavel Horský, and he had come a long way since starting off as a lawyer in his early 20's in 1999.

Kretinsky has also been chairman of Sparta Prague since 2004, owning a 40 per cent stake in the Czech outfit, but his main fortune has come from starting up energy company Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH) in 2009, of which he owns 94 per cent, and has invested in many energy businesses and power plants across Europe - including in the UK.

With EPH's EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) for the financial year of 2025 being €3.7 billion, business is clearly booming for Kretinsky, and with his sights set on a further stake at West Ham, he's also recently delved more into British culture by taking over the Royal Mail in late 2024 in what was a £3.6 billion deal.

Joshua Friedman - Charlton Athletic

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Charlton Athletic are not just owned by one person - a group of businesspeople came together to form a consortium in the name of Global Football Partners, with ex-Sunderland chief Charlie Methven being a part of that group.

By far the wealthiest person involved in the club though is Joshua Friedman, who is said to be worth a whopping $5 billion (£3.72 billion), and therefore it was no surprise to see the Addicks go big after promotion from League One in the summer 2025 transfer window.

Friedman was educated at two prestigious universities - Harvard and Oxford - before going on to work in banks such as Goldman Sachs and Drexel Burnham Lambert, but it was his founding of Canyon Partners in 1990 along with associate Mitchell Julis that saw him build his huge wealth.

A private investment hedge fund company with offices in Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo, Canyon Partners has more than $29 billion AUM (Assets under management) and over 200 employees, and having ran the company for 36 years now, Friedman is clearly doing something right in the world of business to be such a success - and he shows no signs of slowing down in his late 60s or early 70s.

Michael Eisner - Portsmouth

In 2017, Portsmouth were purchased by Tornante Investment Group, which was headed up by wealthy former Disney CEO Michael Eisner - and some nine years later, the south coast outfit are in a much better place.

Pompey had just been promoted to League One, and despite finding it a struggle to get out of the third tier, their time eventually came in 2024, with John Mousinho leading them to the Championship once more.

And despite the perceived lack of investment into Portsmouth's playing squad compared to other Championship clubs, Eisner has a considerable net worth of $3.8 billion (£2.83 billion), according to the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2024, albeit now at the age of 84, it may be his immediate children that pull the strings of Tornante.

Eisner was a broadcasting mogul in his younger days with stints at NBC, CBS and ABC in the United States, before being hired by Paramount Pictures to become COO and president of their movie studio in 1976.

He really made a name for himself though as CEO of Disney, where he headed in 1984, and he would hold that role for over 20 years, overseeing the company's worldwide expansion to become a conglomerate powerhouse - which had an annual in of $94.4 billion in 2025.

On the back of Eisner's departure from Disney, Tornante was formed for him to invest in several businesses and ventures, with one of his major acquisitions in 2007 being The Topps Company - a well-known trading cards and collectibles institution, although he sold the last of his stock in 2024.

Steve Lansdown - Bristol City

Bristol City's investment and ambition in the transfer market have come under intense scrutiny from supporters in recent years, although the club's overall progression and bill of health under long-serving owner Steve Lansdown is difficult to question.

The Bristolian's rein has been a lengthy one, having become the Robins' owner all the way back in 2002 after being elected as a member of the board some six years previously.

Lansdown attended Thornbury Grammar School and initially trained as an accountant before setting up Hargreaves Lansdown alongside Peter Hargreaves in 1981.

Hargreaves Lansdown would go on to become one of the UK's biggest investment companies and returned £860.6 million in the financial year, with the company being acquired by CVC Capital Partners, Nordic Capital and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in March of last year.

Indeed, the now-73-year-old was able to sell a stake of 4.7% in Hargreaves Lansdown for £47.2 million back in 2009, which reduced his then-stake to 22.9% in an effort to provide funding for the club's proposed new stadium at Ashton Vale.

That never quite materialised, and Lansdown instead put £50 million towards the stunning redevelopment of the now-27,000-seater Ashton Gate in 2014.

Ruben Gnanalingam - QPR

Ruben Gnanalingam (second left), QPR majority owner

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Ruben Gnanalingam has been in the QPR boardroom since 2011, representing an era in which the Loftus Road faithful will always rue as the club spent lavishly - and foolishly - during three separate Premier League campaigns under the eccentric Tony Fernandes.

Gnanalingham has gradually increased his stakeholding in West London and became majority owner in 2023 with 60% shares when Fernandes finally left for good in 2023, with the remaining 40% predominantly split between Richard Reilly and Amit Bhatia.

The Malaysian businessman graduated from the London School of Economics before joining Wesports Malaysia in 2005.

Wesports Malaysia, which was co-founded by the QPR chief's late father all the way back in the early 1990's, operates the country's largest container cargo terminal by volume and the Gnanagligham family are said to be worth a combined $3.1 billion.

Gnanalingham held the role of Executive Director from 2006 to 2010 before moving into the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director, both of which he still retains alongside duties at Loftus Road and a place in the ownership group of MLS outfit Los Angeles FC.

John Coates - Stoke City

The origin of John Coates' immense wealth is rather well-documented, and the sheer amount of financial backing in which he and his family have bankrolled Stoke City with cannot be questioned - even if supporters have more rightful concerns regarding the club's footballing strategy in recent years.

The Potters are owned by the Coates family, though it's John Coates who is the lead owner of the Championship outfit following the club's demerger with Bet365 in 2024.

Coates' father, Peter Coates, is the co-founder of Bet365 alongside Denise Coates. John, meanwhile, studied law at Bristol University and begun his career as a lawyer before being convinced to join his sister in launching Bet365, of which he now owns a quarter.

Bet365 is, of course, one of the United Kingdom's most prominent gambling companies, and business continues to boom as it posted a total revenue turnover of £4.03 billion and a pre-tax profit of £349 million in the last financial year.

The Venky's - Blackburn Rovers

Perhaps the Championship's most controversial ownership group right now is the Venky's, who have owned Blackburn Rovers since 2010 and have overseen years of decline at Ewood Park.

The Venky's are controlled by the Rao family and are chaired by Anduradha Desai, who is the daughter of the company's orignal founder - Dr Banda Vasudev Rao.

As is well-documented, the Venky's initial wealth was generated through chicken farming, although the Indian conglomerate's portfolio now includes more than 10 companies throughout the poultry industry, encompassing processed food, animal vaccines and both human and animal pharmaceutical products.

Although the Venky's are reportedly valued at £1.3 billion, the financial purse-strings have been notoriously tight across recent years in this corner of Lancashire. Rovers have frequently struggled to spend heavily in the market owing to government restrictions on the Venky's back in India, and a lack of spending has contributed to numerous relegation battles.