France's richest family shaking up soccer with planned purchase of second-tier Paris FC
PARIS (AP) — France’s richest family, the Arnaults of luxury empire LVMH, announced the planned purchase of second-division soccer club Paris FC on Thursday and ambitions to establish it in the top flight.
It’s a major shakeup for soccer in France, putting vast wealth behind a potential challenger in the French capital to the dominant Ligue 1 team of recent years, Qatar-funded Paris Saint-Germain.
A statement from the Arnault family's holding company, Agache, said it will become the club's majority shareholder. Energy drink giant Red Bull will come aboard with a minority stake.
The statement didn’t give a monetary figure for the deal, which remains subject to completing legal and other paperwork. But the billionaire family's company intends to provide the club "with the necessary resources” and wants “to permanently establish the men’s and women’s teams among the elite of French football and within the hearts of the Parisians.”
More broadly, the takeover of the club with a distinctive blue-and-white Eiffel Tower logo could help the French capital build on the sporting momentum of the Paris Olympics and put an end to its place as something of an oddball in the European soccer landscape.
Despite being a powerhouse of fashion, finance, luxury and entertainment, Paris trails London, Madrid and other cities by having just one top-flight soccer team: The hegemonic PSG.
The former club of superstar Kylian Mbappé is a 12-time champion of Ligue 1, with 10 of those titles in France’s top league coming after gas-rich Qatar began injecting its wealth into the club it purchased in 2011.
London, by contrast, has seven Premier League clubs this season. Madrid and its suburbs have five clubs in La Liga. Rome has two, sharing Stadio Olimpico.
The situation is even more curious given the Paris region's long and proven record as one of Europe's most fertile grounds for soccer talent, with Mbappé, Thierry Henry, N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba and many other French stars having emerged from the capital's housing projects and feeder clubs.
Paris FC's takeover by a family with deep pockets could, in time, possibly offer future French stars more options to stay home, rather than move to the continent's other more successful leagues. The Arnault family is expected to initially take a 55% stake and Red Bull around 15%, with current owner Pierre Ferracci keeping the rest for now. Ferracci stays on a club president.
“The history and the evolution of Paris FC embodies a whole other aspect to football in the capital. With the arrival of Agache as the club’s majority shareholder, the club will take on a new dimension with new goals and criteria for success,” the family company's statement said.
Created in 1969, Paris FC's men's team has yet to achieve any significant success. But it currently tops the second-division standings.
The women's team already plays in the top-tier Première League.
Red Bull will mainly act as a sporting adviser, “whether it be reinforcing the detection of young talent capable of joining the training center or targeting the best players.”
Red Bull this month announced former Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp will become its head of global soccer from January, overseeing its international network of clubs.
Agache, meanwhile, will bring “its entrepreneurial vision and expertise in economic development and brand influence over the long term."
LVMH boss Bernard Arnault is toward the very top of Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated wealth topping $150 billion.
His son Antoine Arnault, who'll be the family representative on the Paris FC board, said, “Football has long been a great passion for us.
“We are very hopeful that, gradually, we will together write a new and exceptional chapter in French football history, without setting any specific objectives at this stage."
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