Football as an asset class: private equity invests €8bn in clubs and leagues since 2020 | OneFootball

Article by Spobis, the leading international platform for the sports business industry, organiser of the annual Spobis Conference, taking place on 4–5 February in Hamburg, one of Europe’s key events dedicated to the sports industry, innovation and business.

Apollo Sports Capital’s entry into Atlético Madrid marks the most valuable stake sale of the year in club football. An overview highlights the most influential private equity investments in the modern professional game.

The strong presence of private equity investors across Europe’s professional leagues shows one thing clearly: football is increasingly being positioned as a sustainable, scalable, and high-growth asset class. With roughly eight billion US dollars in private equity investments and hundreds of multi-club ownership transactions since 2020, the market has become steadily more professional and diversified. Valuations have risen sharply as well. Two examples: in 2010, Fenway Sports Group acquired Liverpool FC for around £300 million. Just one year later, Qatar Sports Investments paid only €100 million for a majority stake (initially 70 percent) in French top club Paris Saint-Germain.

With Apollo Sports Capital’s entry at Atlético Madrid, club-football stake sales are reaching a new financial dimension. Apollo Sports Capital—part of Apollo Global Management, which oversees around 908 billion US dollars in assets—invests one billion euros for roughly 51 percent of the Spanish capital club. The goal is to create an urban sports and entertainment ecosystem with new infrastructural developments. Regardless of brand value, this investment pushes Atlético Madrid’s overall valuation to at least two billion euros.

Apollo Sports Capital is also continuing its European expansion strategy with a minority investment in AFC Wrexham. The investment supports the ambitious growth trajectory of the Welsh club under majority owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds and includes funding for the comprehensive redevelopment of the STōK Cae Ras. This project is a central component of the Wrexham Gateway Project, aimed at improving regional connectivity, economic development, and urban revitalization. In doing so, Apollo Sports Capital strengthens not only the club’s sporting ambitions—including its long-term goal of reaching the Premier League—but also its role as a driver of regional economy and identity.

From Matchday to Platform Economy: CVC as System Architect

Few actors have shaped private equity flows in modern professional football more than CVC Capital Partners. With investments of 2.1 billion US dollars in Spain’s La Liga and 1.6 billion US dollars in France’s Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), CVC has redefined the league model. Instead of acquiring individual clubs, the fund focuses on stakes in centralized commercialization structures—8.25 percent of La Liga’s broadcasting rights and 13 percent of LFP’s commercial activities over several decades.

The goal: to professionalize football as a system. Funds are directed into infrastructure, digitalization, and internationalization. In Spain, sponsorship and matchday revenues of participating clubs have increased by 46 percent since CVC’s entry in 2021—a clearly measurable success. CVC is establishing a new governance culture, bringing European leagues closer to U.S. models: from a club-based system toward centralized league corporations.

Silver Lake and Arctos: Innovation as a Growth Engine

While CVC focuses on structural reform, investors like Silver Lake and Arctos Partners concentrate on innovation and new scaling methods. Silver Lake—like CVC, one of the world’s largest private equity firms—increased its stake in City Football Group (CFG) to 18 percent in 2022, strengthening its footprint in European club football. Valuations on the scale of its recent participation in the 55-billion-US-dollar buyout of Electronic Arts (EA) remain far off in the football sector for now.

Arctos Partners, on the other hand, acquired up to 12.5 percent of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2023, based on a club valuation exceeding four billion US dollars. The capital supports PSG’s infrastructure development and international expansion—particularly in the North American market. The U.S. investment firm operates as a strategic minority investor, contributing management expertise and networks without influencing sporting decisions. In total, Arctos holds ownership stakes in around twenty professional clubs and franchises worldwide.

Unlike traditional private equity investors, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is less focused on generating financial returns and instead uses football as a strategic tool of Saudi Arabia’s national Vision 2030—aimed at modernisation, diversification, and global positioning. The acquisition of roughly 80 percent of Newcastle United in 2021 exemplifies this new, institutionally organized and economically structured approach in professional football.