Relegated to Ligue 2, Toulouse Football Club officially passes under the American flag, with the arrival of the RedBird Capital Partners fund. Téfécé joins the circle of eleven clubs owned by foreign investors in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. No buyout amount has been disclosed, but the team puts forward the figure of 20 million euros. The Americans of Redbird are far from being the only ones to realize the bet of French football. Decryption.
What are these foreign investors doing?
Many French owners no longer hide the desire to sell their club. We remember Michel Seydoux, then president of Losc, who in 2014 had announced publicly that he was ready to sell his club to a foreign investor. Something done in 2016, with the arrival of the Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman Gérard Lopez, at the head of the northern training. The phenomenon had already gained momentum with the takeover of PSG by Qatar in 2011.
“The arrival of Qatari investors has made it possible to highlight French football, to increase its national and international visibility, but also its reputation, and especially its TV rights”, analyzes Pierre Rondeau, sports economist. The Americans then joined the movement in order to ride the trend of “soccer”. For their part, “the Chinese come into football to gain expertise, and because their government has implemented tax exemptions in case of investment,” details the specialist.
Nicknamed the “League of talents”, the French championship is renowned for its young prodigies. Ligue 1 is also a boon for investors who wish to make significant profits through player trading. The most famous example: AS Monaco. Bought in 2011 by Dmitri Rybolovlev, the Monegasque club specializes in the purchase / resale of young footballers. In 2017, the Principality’s club achieved a return on investment of over 600%.
Risk appetite
Investing in the French championships is not easy. Short-term profits are hard to convince. The clubs owned by Americans are in dire straits today. Bordeaux has recently escaped sanctions from the DNCG, and Frank McCourt is at the heart of all the attention concerning the takeover of the Marseille club. But for Pierre Rondeau, it is today “impossible to do without foreign investors, especially in the face of European competition”.
Foreign funds therefore have plenty of time to risk themselves in an environment where French investments are timid: “I still believe that it is cultural, assures the economist, many French companies have the capital, but no not invest. There is a kind of contempt and fear in betting on football. It was not until 2019 and the arrival of Accor with PSG that a CAC 40 company officially sponsored a Ligue 1 club. ”
Why Toulouse and Ligue 2?
Ligue 2 is more behind the scenes than on the field. According to Pierre Rondeau, despite less visibility, investments in the lower division allow for a significant added value: “Redbird benefits from a club bought at a discount, because 20 million euros is not expensive for a football club which has very significant potential. If, in two years, Toulouse goes back to Ligue 1 and they (NDLR : Redbird) do a good job in terms of the relationship with the supporters, the added value could be multiplied by four. “
Paris FC could well be next on the list. Investors from Bahrain are eyeing the Ligue 2 resident. An arrival that raises questions as the club evolves in the shadow of PSG, and whose attendance is one of the weakest in the championship. For Pierre Rondeau, Bahrain has its card to play: “The PFC could both benefit from a very important fan potential in a densely populated region, and from an asymmetry in popularity of PSG by saying: we are the alternative. »
LEAGUE 1
Paris Saint Germain : QSI (Qatar), 2011.
OGC Nice: Jim Ratcliff (United Kingdom), 2019.
Olympic Marseille : Franck McCourt (United States), 2016.
Girondins de Bordeaux: GACP (United States), 2019.
AS Monaco : Dmitri Rybolovlev (Russie), 2011.
Losc: Gérard Lopez (Spain / Luxembourg), 2017.
RC Lens : Solférino Group (Luxembourg), 2016.
LEAGUE 2
Toulouse : FC Redbird (USA), 2020.
Auxerre : James Zhou (China), 2016.
Sochaux : Nenking Group (Chine), 2020.
Le Havre: Vincent Volpe (United States), 2020.
