All Premier League clubs that have American ownership

Yesterday it became clear that the American investment fund 777 Partners is buying the classic English club Everton from Farhad Moshiri, or rather all the shares that Moshiri owns today, which is 94%. The price they will pay for the club is estimated to be around 550 million British pounds, around 640 million euro. The deal is planned to be completed before the end of the year. As a result of this, there are now as many as 10 clubs in the Premier League which are fully or partially American owned, that is half of all clubs in the league.

Everton - on the facade of Goodison Park

Investing in football clubs (soccer that is) is nothing new for 777 Partners. Today, they are owners or part-owners of for example Spanish Sevilla, Italian Genoa, Brazilian Vasco de Gama, Belgian Standard Liège and German Hertha Berlin.

Other clubs in the Premier League with American ownership

As said, it is not only Everton that will now have American owners, these nine Premier League clubs also have Americans as owners.

Manchester United

The club that has been in American ownership for the longest time is Manchester United. Already in 2003, the American business man Malcolm Glazer bought a small share of Manchester United and subsequently bought more and more shares until in May 2005 he became the majority owner of the club with just under 57% of the total shares. Malcolm Glazer died in May 2014 and the owner today is the Glazer family.

Arsenal

Arsenal is owned by the American holding company Kroenke Sports & Entertainment and they started buying shares in the club in 2007. However, it was only in 2011 that they took over as official owners when they at that time got to own almost 63% of the shares in the club. Today they own over 90% of the shares.

Liverpool

Liverpool has been owned since 2010 by the American conglomerate Fenway Sports Group. FSG, as they are often abbreviated to, own 100% of the club. The owner of FSG is primarily the American John W. Henry (40%) and in addition to Henry, the company has a large number of owners, including the basketball player LeBron James.

Chelsea

In March 2022, Chelsea was bought from Roman Abramovich by the American consortium BlueCo. The owners of BlueCo are the Americans Todd Boehly and Mark Walter, the American private equity company Clearlake Capital, and the Swiss businessman Hansjörg Wyss.

Aston Villa

The Birmingham club Aston Villa has been owned since 2018 by the NSWE Group which is an Egyptian company which in turn is owned by the Egyptian Nassef Sawiris and the American Wes Edens. NSWE Group's ownership stake in the club is 55%.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth is 100% owned from 2022 by the company Turquoise Bidco Limited, which is an English company but is owned by the 78-year old American businessman Bill Foley, or William Patrick Foley II which is his full name.

Burnley

Burnley won the EFL Championship last season and are thus newcomers to the Premier League. As of 2020, the Club is 84% owned by an American consortium named ALK Capital.

Crystal Palace

In December 2015, the London club Crystal Palace became owned by the two American investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who both bought 18% of the club. Since August 2021, another American investor named John Textor was added as he bought 40% of the club's shares. Yet another official owner is the Englishman Steve Parish, who owns just over 10% of the shares, and Parish is also the club's president.

Fulham

The fourth London club to be American-owned is Fulham. In 2013, businessman Shahid Khan bought 100% of the shares. Khan was born in Pakistan but holds American citizenship.

That's why American clubs want to own European football clubs

So why then do Americans have such a huge interest in (real) football? The reason is that Americans love football so much!! Well, not really... The reason that so many American billionaires, investment companies and various conglomerates are so interested in football is not because of their enormous interest in the sport, but the reason is obviously spelled money. If there's one thing Americans know, it's business. With various Gulf states' increased interest in investing in football there's more money than ever in circulation in football, and thus a lot more money to be made, something that Americans understands oh so well.

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