Multi-Club Ownership Has Taken Off

Luc ARRONDEL * Économiste, directeur de recherche, CNRS, Paris School of Economics.Contact : luc.arrondel@psemail.eu

Richard DUHAUTOIS ** Économiste, Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM), Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherches en sciences de l'action (LIRSA) et centre d'études de l'emploi et du travail (CEET).Contact : richard.duhautois@lecnam.net

In football, multi-club ownership (MCO) involves individual owners, groups or clubs. It's a fairly recent phenomenon that dates back to the late 1990s, but one that seems to be gaining ground in football today.

Economically, this development of MCOs is in line with the logic of mergers and acquisitions of enterprises, a common practice in a market economy. Mergers and acquisitions can be “horizontal” (buying clubs at the same level), “vertical” (buying training clubs), or aimed at “expanding the market” (buying clubs from other regions).

From a sporting point of view, this practice poses obvious problems of conflict of interest, if two teams from an MCO play each other in the same competition. The UEFA has (for now) solved this issue of sporting ethics through the Red Bull jurisprudence, based on its concept of “decisive influence” of one club over another.