John Textor – Soccer’s Icarus | OneFootball

If you happen to a supporter of Crystal Palace or French club Lyon, then you’re probably aware of John Textor, the American billionaire who owns stakes in both clubs. But few know the backstory of this magnate and would-be soccer impresario, and how in the past five years he’s built one of the largest soccer multi-club empires. But much like the storied Icarus, his meteoric rise puts him dangerously close to the sun.

Who Is John Textor?

John Textor is a scion of the extended du Pont family, one of America’s richest. He claims to have been raised middle class in Florida, and was apparently a professional skateboarder until injury forced him out of the sport. He turned to technology, and became well-known for leveraging his way into a number of cutting edge digital tech companies through strategic investment and takeovers via his holding company Wyndcrest Partners.

In 2019, he became the CEO of fuboTV, an over-the-top broadcaster that was one of the first to bring soccer streaming to the United States. After leading fuboTV to a public offering in 2020, he stepped away from day-to-day operations (though retained the company’s largest shareholder). Since then, John’s done a pretty nifty job of building a soccer empire via his company Eagle Football Holdings Limited (EFHL). EFHL operates under a multi-club ownership (MCO) model, in which a single entity owns shares in multiple different soccer clubs, usually in different countries.

Eagle Football Holdings Limited

EFHL was founded to purchase a 40% ownership in the Premier League’s Crystal Palace for around $112M in August 2021. Quite a clever way to reinvest all the profits from the fuboTV IPO, eh John? But the circumstances of his investment left him at the mercy of Steve Parish, who to this day retains executive control despite having a significantly smaller ownership percentage.

Minority stakes couldn’t satisfy Textor’s itch, so five months later, in January 2022, EFHL announced more grandiose plans. They would acquire 90% of the Rio de Janeiro club Botafogo and 80% of the Belgian side RWD Molenbeek. Botafogo had been in financial trouble for years and been relegated down to the Serie B. EFHL’s deal carried a commitment to take on $72.5M in debts, and the club is currently financed on a $60M loan personally guaranteed by John Textor. Terms on the Molenbeek takeover are not public.

In December 2022, he added Olympique Lyon into his EFHL stable, buying a 77.5% share for a cool $940M. Not long after that deal concluded, EFHL became the sixth largest of the global multi-club owner (MCO) groups with soccer investments. The MCO model has become increasingly popular in the past decade, because it carries tangible benefits around player development, player transfer and the ability to cross-finance between clubs. Of course, there are also risks. Two of which hit EFHL hard recently.

MCO Conflict of Interest

This issue specifically concerns tournament play in international and confederation competitions (examples include FIFA Club World Cup or the UEFA Champions & Europa Leagues). Nearly all tournament rules prohibit clubs within an ownership group from competing in the same competition, to avoid any hint of collusion or impropriety. Hooligan covered how Crystal Palace fell afoul of this back in June.

Troubles In Lyon

MCO’s also carry a slightly high risk of fiscal over-extension. In their October 2024 financial disclosures Eagle Holdings revealed carrying a hefty $575M in debt. This total caught the attention of France’s soccer regulatory body the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG). After reviewing Lyon’s situation vis-a-vis the control from EFHL, they issued a provisional relegation decision in November 2024 unless the club could provide guarantees of financial stability.

John Textor assured nervous Lyon fans that there was “no chance” the relegation would happen. The club sold a bunch of their first team players (Anthony Lopes, Maxence Caqueret in January; Rayan Cherki in June; Amin Sarr, Johann Lepenant, Saïd Benrahma in July) in a bid to generate millions. But in late June the DNCG upheld the relegation, ironically solving Crystal Palace’s problem, but heaping humiliation upon Lyon.

The Twists

It’s been a wild month since June 15th, as many different strands of this convoluted EFHL thread knotted and unknotted themselves. Here’s a quick bullet list what transpired:

Meanwhile, in Brazil

There was drama down in Rio as well. Botafogo had qualified for the Club World Cup, and moved on from the group stage into the knockout rounds. They defeated the reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain 1 – 0 in a legendary upset. But after falling to Palmeiras 1 – 0 in extra time, Textor reportedly ordered the termination of coach Renato Paiva.

The club also announced the transfer of standout players Jair Cuhna and Igor Jesus to Nottingham Forest for $32.5M. Hm, where have I heard that name?

The Nottingham Forest Quandary

It has not gone unnoticed that Forest’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, also owns Greek club Olympiakos. Olympiakos are also competing in the Europa League next season. So how is this permitted?

You see, Marinakis placed his Forest shares into a one-year blind trust before March 1, which is perfectly kosher with the UEFA brass and rules. Textor did not do this with Crystal Palace. Marinakis and Textor are alleged to be very close friends (see the above transfer deal between the two billionaire’s clubs). I wouldn’t be so gauche as to suggest a quid-pro-quo was in effect, not unless I stumbled across some evidence.

Textor’s True Purpose is Power

But Textor had to be aware of the March 1 deadline and chose to ignore it. Maybe he didn’t think Palace would win the FA Cup. But more likely was he needed to retain active control of those shares in his attempt to wrest control of Crystal Palace from Steve Parish. Textor’s boardroom coup sought greater integration of Palace into EFHL, and he could not convince the board go along. So maybe we now see Textor’s ultimate endgame: revenge

Given the choice to put the club first, Textor chose himself. Then having been denied the power he craved at Palace, he sold his shares for $254M while shedding crocodile tears the whole time.

Meanwhile, Lyon are back in the more lucrative Europa League, and looking safe from the DNCG for another year. Botafogo is flush with Club World Cup winnings (estimated at $27.2M) and player transfer cash. And Sheffield Wednesday appear to be in some trouble, perhaps they need a visionary owner to come in and help?