The impact of globalisation in football is evident all over the world, from the high profile English Premier League to our own I-League. This trend is not just restricted to transfer of foreign players but the movement of foreign capital and personnel like hiring of foreign coaching staff.
Last weekend the Pakistan-born Shahid Khan, who lives in the USA, bought one of London’s oldest clubs Fulham. The 62-year-old Shahid Khan a billionaire car parts manufacturer also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL franchise. With this purchase, the majority of Premier League owners are now not British with 11 of the 20 clubs in foreign hands.
Two decades ago when the Premiership started this was unthinkable. In the high noon of Empire, English clubs were owned by successful British builders, butchers, motor car dealers and brewers.
Local businessmen poured money into the club they supported as a child or to acquire status in the city. But now the Premiership is a global brand.
Every week EPL matches are telecast to more than 150 countries. So it attracts foreign capital.
The first foreign owner of a British club was the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich who bought Chelsea for £140 million ($233 million approximately). In his quest for major titles the Russian oligarch has spent over a billion dollars. Chelsea achieved their holy grail by winning the prestigious Champions League title in 2012 and the Europa league a year later. Chelsea are thus the first British and fourth club overall to have won all three European club titles.
Three of the 11 foreign owners of EPL clubs are Asians. The most famous of this trio is Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan of UAE, who in 2008 spent a whopping £210 million in buying a 90 per cent stake in Manchester City.
Within a couple of years his expenditure on Manchester City was about £1.08 billion, which included wages of players, support staff, purchase of players and renovation of the main stadium and training centre.
Despite such massive expenditure, Manchester City’s successes have been confined to England, winning the FA Cup and Premiership.
They have flopped in Europe so far much to the consternation of their billionaire owner.
The other two Asian owners are Malaysia’s Vincent Tan of newly promoted Cardiff City and Khan, who bought Fulham debt free from Mohammed al Fayad for £200 million.
The Egyptian al Fayad had bought Fulham for £6.25 million in 1997 and despite his expenses made a profit when he sold the club.
The owners of Premiership clubs are from different parts of the globe. Assem Allam of Egypt owns newly promoted Hull City.
Southampton have a Swiss owner, The Executors of Markus Liebherr’s Estate. Arsenal have joint American-Russian control. Stan Kroenke of USA owns a 66.83 per cent stake and the Russian Ali Usmanov 29.99 per cent share.
The other owners are all American. The most famous is Malcolm Glazer a sports tycoon who in May 2005 took control of Manchester United in a £790 million takeover.
Other American owners are John W Henry and LeBron James (Liverpool), Randy Lerner (Aston Villa) and Ellis Short (Sunderland).