Who Are The Premier League Investors?

Who are the financial backers of - arguably - England’s biggest success story?

• Since its inception in 1992, the Premier League has established itself as a major success, enjoying huge popularity around the globe and overall a reputation for high-quality sport and entertainment.
• After the sanctioning of Chelsea’s oligarch owner Roman Abramovich made global headlines, a wider debate about who-owns-what in English football has erupted.
• Just last October, Newcastle United joined the list of Premier League clubs that are owned by foreign investors, when it was acquired by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia for £305m.
• Manchester City went to the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, a sale overseen by Sheikh Mansour of the UAE, while Arsenal was taken over by American billionaire businessman Stan Kroenke in 2018.
• The pandemic has fuelled the interest of US private equity investors in English clubs, with ALK Capital for instance having come to the financial rescue of Burnley FC by buying it at the end of 2020.
• The tide is now seemingly turning with regard to - in some instances - dubious foreign investors pouring funds into historic football clubs - money that may have come from often inscrutable sources.