How has foreign investment affected the beautiful game?

Football has long been called the beautiful game, and today it is played across the world. The top football leagues, including the English Premier League, attract fans from across the world, and players are paid enormous sums. Indeed it seems for a club to succeed in a top league today, it requires an owner with deep pockets.

Foreign ownership in the Premier League has shot up in recent years. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Southampton and Queens Park Rangers are just some of the clubs currently under foreign ownership. So what is drawing all these foreign investors to the English Premier League? The answer is of course the economic potential of owning part of the most profitable leagues in the world. The television rights for the league were sold for £3 billion for three seasons, with the overseas rights expected to be sold for £2 billion. Compare this with the Bundesliga rights, which were sold for £1 billion. The Premier League also has another attraction for investors. As the financial packages are shared across all the teams, the league is more competitive, and it is a realistic option to buy a struggling team and improve it.

Whilst it is clear why foreign owners are interested in the football clubs, it is less clear what this means for English football clubs. Owning a football club despite all the money flowing around is not all that profitable, so the owners must be fans of football. However, whilst some foreign owners are committed to their clubs, others are more concerned about the financial side. This could lead to games moving abroad, which would be bad for English fans.

Investing in a football club obviously requires thought, and Fahad Alrajaan, who served as the company director of Ahli United Bank, has considerable experience with investments, so his background puts him in a good position to offer investment advice to would-be football investors.

Foreign owners can be good for clubs. Some such as Stan Kroenke of Arsenal do not interfere with the day to day running of their clubs, whilst others such as Abramovich of Chelsea are famous for demanding results from their managers. Others such as Assam Allam of Hull City have created controversy by putting their team up for sale when they were refused permission to rename the club Hull Tigers.

For Manchester City, foreign investment has enabled them to open a training facility to coach young talent. The club's new Grade 1 Academy is located next to its Etihad Stadium, and it hosts 12 youth development football pitches, four first team football pitches, a dedicated school and accommodation, and a 7,000 seat Youth Arena. The aim of the club is to be one of the world's leading football clubs and to be a centre of football excellence, developing and investing in young talent.

Clubs that are able to spend a lot of money will always have an advantage in the football league, and these days, that usually means having a foreign owner. However, despite this, there has been some success for smaller teams without the big foreign backers. Burnley is one of the smallest towns in the Premier League and they have one of the lowest budgets. Yet this has not stopped Burnley being promoted twice to the Premier League. Wigan has also had considerable success since being bought by local businessman Dave Whelan.

While there are pros and cons to foreign investment in football clubs, in many cases it is a boon to the club and can even have a positive effect on the local community.

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