The international network of FC Bayern Munich continues to grow. There has been a cooperation with Los Angeles FC for a year – which is now busy concluding partnerships in European football. The latest achievement: the Swiss record champions Grasshoppers Zurich.
The City Football Group and Red Bull Football are the best-known club conglomerates in the world: Both the investors from Abu Dhabi and the Austrian Brause Group have football branches on several continents – ideally they serve as suppliers for their premium products Manchester City and RB Leipzig. In the shadow of this duo, a trend towards so-called Multi Club Ownerships (MCO) has developed in recent years.
The investment company 777 Partners from the USA, for example, owns shares in seven clubs, including FC Genoa, FC Sevilla and Hertha BSC. The Qatari sovereign wealth fund not only owns Paris Saint-Germain, it also has a 20 percent stake in Sporting Braga. Manchester United’s new investor Ineos has long been involved with OGC Nice and the Swiss first division club Lausanne-Sport.
In the wake of these developments, FC Bayern is also building an international network, but is doing it a little differently than the competition. Last February, the Munich-based team announced the founding of the Red&Gold Football joint venture together with MLS club Los Angeles FC. The company headquarters is on Säbener Straße, and campus boss Jochen Sauer is the managing director.
“The aim of the collaboration is to train international talents for their own teams and professional football in cooperation with partner clubs,” said the founding press release. Since then, two more clubs have joined the network: The Gambinos Stars Africa from Gambia around the former president of SpVgg Greuther Fürth Helmut Hack as well as in December the Uruguayan first division team Racing Club de Montevideo.
LAFC partnership with the Grasshoppers: Outside the joint venture
Regardless, LAFC agreed in May a cooperation with the traditional Austrian club Wacker Innsbruck, which has now fallen into the fifth division. Last week the acquisition of 96.5 percent of the shares in the Swiss first division club Grasshoppers Zurich was also announced.
Innsbruck and Zurich – the distances to Munich are short. It is obvious that there was an exchange between those responsible for LAFC and FC Bayern about these partnerships in advance. However, the two clubs were not integrated into the joint venture. According to UEFA regulations, this would have ruled out, or at least made it significantly more complicated, the simultaneous participation of several of these clubs in European competitions.
As is well known, the RB branches in Leipzig and Salzburg had to be at least formally unbundled in 2017 before both clubs were allowed to compete in the Europa League. It is still unclear how UEFA will decide if both Manchester City and partner FC Girona qualify for the coming Champions League season.
“We should strive and contribute to developing regulations so that multi-club ownership does not distort competition,” said FC Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen after he was elected to the executive committee of the European club association ECA in September. “Certainly we have to look at players moving back and forth between clubs owned by one owner. It will be interesting to see how that can be addressed.”
Soon to Zurich too? FC Bayern is increasingly relying on loan deals
The LAFC partners Wacker and Grasshoppers could, in turn, serve FC Bayern as interesting loan stations for in-house talent in the future without major negotiating difficulties. Because the reserves are still stuck in the Bavarian regional league, which is not very demanding in terms of sport, the Munich team is currently increasingly relying on loan deals on the threshold between the youth department and the professional team. In total, FC Bayern has currently loaned out 24 players, some like Joshua Zirkzee (FC Bologna) or Malik Tillmann (PSV Eindhoven) are developing excellently.
Regardless of any loan considerations, the grasshoppers’ youth work should be optimized from now on. Interim President Stacy Johns, appointed by the LAFC, announced this in an interview with Blick. In her opinion, for a young player it must be “an argument” for training in Zurich, “that he can develop here, that he can then play for the first team, that he can perhaps take the next step, to Bayern Munich, to LAFC or even to a club outside of our network”. FC Bayern, which is explicitly mentioned by name, therefore serves as a clear perspective.
Last summer, 20-year-old Nigerian Daniel Francis took the opposite route from FC Bayern to an LAFC partner. He moved from the Munich reserves to Wacker Innsbruck, where he met Lucas Scholl, the son of Munich club icon Mehmet.
Harald Gärtner is the new European boss of Los Angeles FC
Francis’ previous station at Austria Klagenfurt is interesting. The Austrian first division club has served as a loan point for a striking number of Munich talents in recent years, including Francis, Alex Timossi Andersson, Shaoziyang Liu and Emilian Metu.
In the course of the Liu transfer, Klagenfurt’s then managing director Harald Gärtner spoke of a “very trusting and friendly relationship” with the Munich team: “Should the constellation arise in the future that FC Bayern lend young, talented boys and help them get more match practice at a good level If you want, we are always open to discussions.”
Before working at Austria, the 55-year-old served as managing director of FC Ingolstadt for a long time, and is now – pay attention – European boss of Los Angeles FC. “He was a key figure in establishing our partnership with FC Wacker,” said LAFC co-president Larry Freedman. “His skills and expertise will be an invaluable resource as we continue to expand our global network.”
Now Gärtner’s “focus should be on the transfer market,” emphasized interim president Johns: “We want to strengthen the squad.” The Grasshoppers are currently in eighth place in the Swiss Super League, four points behind a place in the championship round. As league leaders, Wacker is now facing promotion to the fourth division.
2024-01-24 07:24:00
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