US Investors in European Football: Nine Clubs a Year

Dominik Mittermaier · October 18, 2026

Rows of empty stadium seats at dusk in soft focus, warm light along the seat edges

US investment in European football covers American funds, companies and holding groups that buy control of clubs or take smaller stakes in them. Annual deal counts are the clearest way to follow it, because they show who keeps buying when others stop.

This autumn the American owners in the news were the ones changing seats. Chelsea’s majority owner agreed to buy out two of its co-investors, and Everton’s owner said it was open to selling control of the club. Read on its own, that looks like Americans heading for the door. UEFA’s own count of club takeovers points the other way: North American buyers took the same number of top-division clubs in each of the last three years, while European buyers pulled back. The selling and the buying are both part of how this money works, and it is not one kind of money: funds, privately held groups and multi-club networks each run on their own timetable.

This autumn: owners changing seats

In September, Chelsea announced that affiliates of Clearlake Capital, the private equity firm that has been the club’s majority owner since 2022, would acquire the stakes of Todd Boehly and Mark Walter and take full control. Hansjörg Wyss stays in the ownership group. The club said there would be no changes to day-to-day operations, leadership or strategy. Financial terms were not disclosed. Buyer and sellers are all American, so the club stays in American hands.

In October, The Friedkin Group, the Texas-based company that completed its purchase of Everton in December 2024, said it was exploring new investment options for the club, “including the potential sale of a controlling interest”. Its statement described the first priority as stability and finishing the new stadium, and said the time was now right to consider the next chapter. The group also owns AS Roma.

Neither is a completed sale to a new owner. One is an owner consolidating, the other an owner opening a sale process.

What UEFA counts: Americans steady, Europeans fewer

UEFA’s European Club Finance and Investment Landscape, published in February 2026, counts completed takeovers of top-division clubs across Europe each year. The total peaked at 48 in 2022, after a wave of buying during the pandemic, and has since fallen to 31 in 2024 and 29 in 2025.

The split by buyer changes the reading. European buyers went from 36 takeovers in 2022 to 19 in 2025. North American buyers took 11 in 2022 and then nine in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025. One or two a year came from elsewhere. So the American share of top-division takeovers rose from about 23% to 31% (our calculation), with no rise in the number of American deals. UEFA’s line that North American investors accounted for one third of takeovers in 2025 is the same count of nine, read as a share of a smaller total.

The nine 2025 deals carry US flags in UEFA’s timeline: Hellas Verona, Livingston, Rangers, Moreirense, Crystal Palace, Le Havre, Larne, Espanyol and Atlético de Madrid. Seven countries, from Northern Ireland to Spain.

UEFA’s explanation centres on supply and price. The report describes limited supply, high valuations and stricter return expectations, and says the scarcity of attractive majority stakes in top-division clubs is pushing money towards second-tier clubs and, to a lesser extent, minority stakes. Counting deals at all levels, not only top-division takeovers, it reports a significant increase on 2024.

Three kinds of American money, three clocks

“US investors” sounds like one group. The report’s own definitions split it into at least three, and each runs on a different timetable.

The first is private capital in the narrow sense: private equity, venture capital and private credit. UEFA counts 38 of the 96 clubs in the five biggest leagues with ties to such investors, about 40%. It also lists new sports funds announced over about 14 months, most of them between $1 billion and $6 billion as the funds declared them, and describes the typical approach plainly: funds invest in clubs and leagues via debt or equity, “typically targeting a five- to ten-year exit”.

The second is the privately held group or wealthy individual. UEFA’s private capital figure leaves out individuals, family offices and companies, so a privately held group like the one that owns Everton and Roma sits outside the 38 by that definition, even though it is American. These owners have no fund life to respect, which makes their timing harder to read from outside. Everton’s statement gives the owner’s own reasons, and they are about stability and the stadium rather than a deadline. The same group, with Everton and Roma, also belongs to the third kind.

The third is the multi-club network. UEFA counts 345 clubs worldwide in multi-club investment structures, against fewer than 60 ten years ago, and says 50 of the groups with at least one European club originate in the United States. In Europe, 122 top-division clubs (16%) have a cross-investment relationship with at least one other club. The way into these networks is changing too: minority stakes made up 25% of multi-club transactions in UEFA countries in 2023 and over a third in 2025.

These categories explain this autumn’s news without any retreat. A majority owner buying out its partners ends up owning more of the club, not less. A private owner opening a sale process once the new stadium is finished gives its own reasons, not a fund’s deadline. Neither is a sign that fewer Americans are buying; that is what UEFA’s count measures, and it has held at nine since 2023.

Where the money lands

The geography is uneven, and the reasons are mostly rules and prices. In England, 12 of the 20 Premier League clubs have ties to private capital investors, more than half. Spain has nine, France and Italy eight each. Germany has one, which the report puts down to the Bundesliga’s 50+1 rule. The rule keeps majority voting control with the members’ club; in the report’s words, the limit on control discourages some investors.

Multi-club ownership reaches beyond the big five. UEFA names Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Scotland and Switzerland as leagues where over a third of top-division clubs belong to a multi-club network.

Two counters, two answers

The share of American money depends on who counts and what. UEFA’s 29 covers completed takeovers of top-division clubs in calendar 2025, and nine of those involved US investors. Football Benchmark, a data service, tracked 76 acquisitions at all levels of the European game from January to October 2025 and found 28 led by US investors. It reported those 28 as 51% of all cross-border deals; against all 76 acquisitions they are about 37% (our calculation). The two counts measure different things, and a headline figure on “American dominance” can move from a third to a half depending on which base sits behind it.

Questions to ask when a club changes hands

What kind of owner is it? A fund, a privately held group and a multi-club network run on different clocks; UEFA describes funds as typically planning an exit after five to ten years.
Is it control or a stake? Minority stakes, private credit and structured equity have grown as full takeovers have slowed, and they give investors a return without the keys.
Which count is the headline using? Takeovers, all deals and cross-border deals give different American shares from the same year.
What do the league’s rules allow? UEFA links Germany’s one private-capital club, against England’s 12, to the 50+1 rule.
Who sets the commercial plan after the deal? Ownership statements often answer it; Chelsea’s said day-to-day operations, leadership and strategy stay the same.

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Sources and method

UEFA, The European Club Finance and Investment Landscape 2025 (English PDF, published February 2026; German edition “Das Finanz- und Investitionsumfeld im europäischen Klubfussball”): chapter 5, Investment. Market conditions and minority stakes on page 66; private capital ties by league, the 50+1 note, the sports-fund timeline and the five- to ten-year exit on page 69; takeovers by year and buyer origin, the 2025 timeline with owner origins, and the count of deals at all levels on page 70; multi-club figures on pages 66 and 71; definitions in notes 77 (private capital excludes individuals, family offices and corporates), 78 (fund sizes as declared, not verified by UEFA), 80 (completed takeovers only, data as at December 2025) and 81 (multi-club groups with at least one European club).
Chelsea FC, Chelsea FC announces ownership transition (17 September 2026).
The Friedkin Group statement on Everton (9 October 2026), as quoted by the Associated Press: Everton up for sale after US owner says it is exploring investment options. The purchase date and the Roma ownership are from the same report.
Football Benchmark, European football M&A in 2025: fewer mega deals, broader global reach (30 October 2025; covers January to October 2025).
Our calculations from reported figures: the North American share of top-division takeovers (11 of 48 in 2022, about 23%; 9 of 29 in 2025, 31%); the US share of all 76 acquisitions in Football Benchmark’s count (28 of 76, about 37%); the country count for the nine 2025 US takeovers, read from the flags in UEFA’s timeline. Football Benchmark’s 51% is its own figure, with cross-border deals as the base. UEFA’s takeover series groups North American investors (2022 to 2024); for 2025 it also gives the US count, nine, the same as the North American bar. UEFA’s text gives the private-capital share as over 40%; 38 of 96 is 39.6%, so we write about 40%. Some totals in the German edition of the report differ (41 clubs with private-capital ties, 123 deals in Europe); we use the English edition, whose chart segments add up to its stated totals. All other figures are as reported.