How healthy is your favorite professional football club? Which club owners are doing well, and who should we ask questions about? Now that it is raining takeovers in Belgian football, this question is becoming increasingly important. 25 journalists and one professor looked for the answer for each club.
Since 2012, 15 of the 16 teams from the Jupiler Pro League and all nine Flemish Challenger Pro League teams have been acquired. 21 of the 28 professional teams are foreign-owned. In this takeover dance, it has become more important than ever who owns our football clubs. KV Oostende seems to be on the verge of death due to the speculations of the American venture capitalists of Pacific Media Group, but Union is experiencing a fairy tale thanks to the support of British data specialists. And Antwerp is champion and cup winner thanks to Paul Gheysens’ money, but is suffering a record loss. Just how good – or bad – is that? To get answers to such questions we went, under the name ‘How healthy is your club?’ delve deeper into the work of the people who determine the fate of your favorite club, but who still receive far too little attention.
25 writing journalists from Nieuwsblad, Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg worked together on this dossier. We have consulted the annual accounts of 16 Jupiler Pro League clubs and the 9 Flemish Challenger Pro League clubs since 2019, plus the capital increases that have since been published in the Belgian Official Gazette. Sports economist Wim Lagae (KU Leuven), who just wrote the book ‘Faster, bigger, crazier’ about the matter, provides an explanation for each club. Because being a good owner is about more than just sporting and financial results, our club watchers have also indicated what the investments are like off the field, the involvement and the Belgian contribution. This resulted in no fewer than 25 separate reports.
More about ‘How healthy is your club?’
HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR CLUB? Read here which fans should rub their hands the most with the bosses of their club
“It’s the Wild West here”: since 2012, almost all our professional football clubs have had a new owner
Building is a good sign, don’t trust every American and one white knight: sports economist Wim Lagae draws lessons from the takeovers in our football
Our football chief about the takeovers in Belgian football
“I had a good laugh with that Club Brugge banner”: Alex Muzio about the recipe for success behind Union
Published on Wednesday
A look at the failed American takeover of KV Oostende: KVO drove into the abyss, but he even included a Snickers bar in his expenses
Published on Wednesday
And then a billionaire sent a delegation to Westkapelle
Published Thursday
Tan wanted to sell so badly that Kompany already had a say in the transfers
Published Thursday
Why do only our top clubs remain in Belgian hands? And what are the chances that they will soon have a foreign buyer?
Published Friday
2024-02-13 02:00:00
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