Kylian Mbappé, Sadio Mané, N’Golo Kanté… Why are more and more active players buying football clubs?

Over the past year, several professional footballers have become majority shareholders of football clubs in France and Belgium. The trend is new among active players and responds to the need to already prepare for the future.

At the heart of a summer full of very busy sports news, crushed by the Olympic Games, the news did not go unnoticed. On July 30, Kylian Mbappé became the owner of Stade Malherbe in Caen, buying 80% of the shares of the club playing in Ligue 2 since 2019. The new Real Madrid player is not the first to forge such a path. Before him, other football glories like David Beckham or the Brazilian Ronaldo distinguished themselves by taking charge, respectively, of Inter Miami and Real Valladolid.

On the other hand, a new step has been taken to the extent that it is now players who are still active who find themselves at the helm of European professional clubs. In the year preceding Kylian Mbappé’s investment, N’Golo Kanté (Excelsior Virton), Sadio Mané (FC Bourges 18) and Kalidou Koulibaly (CS Sedan-Ardennes) became majority shareholders of clubs in France and Belgium.

While each of these projects has its own specificities, they all respond to a logic of financial investment and preparation for the post-career. All these players obviously do not have the time to manage the life of a club at the same time as their career continues hundreds of kilometers away. “Sadio Mané focuses on his career while preparing for the future. He has a clear vision. He doesn’t want to ask himself ‘What should I do?’ at the end of his career”explains Cheikh Sylla, the president of FC Bourges 18 and the man who convinced the 2nd of the 2022 Ballon d’or to help him in his project to develop the club today in National 2 (4th French division).

Why has this trend intensified in recent months? “The sales prices set by the current managers are falling, at least in France. They have experienced the crises of the Covid years and the deflation of TV rights, including extremely significant losses with Mediaproinsists Pierre Rondeau, specialist in football economics. In fact, this attracts investors. Active players are now paid handsomely. They can, without too much hassle, diversify their assets by buying a club at a discount.”

However, the profitability of such operations still remains to be demonstrated. Dependence on sports results makes money coming in completely uncertain. “It’s necessarily risky. Few clubs are capable of breaking even and those generating profits are even fewer. And if they generate profits, they always seek to reuse it to buy players and increase profits. salaries to develop sportingly”unfolds Pierre Rondeau.

This is partly why agent Yvan Le Mée would not necessarily recommend all his players to do the same. He identifies two conditions sine qua non : “have a lot of money” And “choose a club whose economic model allows you to make money”. For example, the Stade Malherbe de Caen, which Kylian Mbappé bought, showed a deficit of 2.8 million euros for the 2022-2023 season. If he could very well resell the club in a few years for an amount higher than its purchase price, profit may not be his main motivation.

“Intangible valorization” should be taken into account according to Pierre Rondeau: “If Kylian Mbappé develops the image of the club, he can improve its reputation and move away from its Parisian-centric consideration”develops the economist.

Beyond the purpose of the investment, becoming the owner of a football club is infinitely more attractive than other ways of investing your money. “This sells more dreams than the financial investments in nursing homes and retirement homes pushed by the UNFP (the union of professional players in France)“breathes Pierre Rondeau. This new generation of players, fed up with video games, can now play their own life-size game of Football Manager.

Buying a football club also means setting foot on familiar ground. “Players, beyond being stars of their sport, increasingly want to exist as entrepreneurs”underlines agent Yvan Le Mée, representing Martin Terrier and Ferland Mendy. Sadio Mané’s project for Bourges goes beyond the simple purchase of a club.

“He wants to give back to football what football gave him. He didn’t come for a ‘one shot’supports Cheikh Sylla. He has just purchased a private mansion and has the idea of ​​transforming it into a luxury hotel with a starred restaurant. Sadio also acquired a stake in a local company which has 15 supermarkets. He owns real estate in Bourges. His brothers, his sister and his whole family are there.”

The arrival of the Senegalese international has led to a clear increase in the sporting ambitions of the fourth division club. FC Bourges 18 aims “League 2 before 2030”. To achieve this objective, “the budget has almost doubled”announces President Cheikh Sylla. The locker rooms were renovated last November, construction of the boxes at the Jacques Raimbault stadium will begin, a physiotherapist has been hired full-time and the club can boast of having three main sponsors: New Balance, Air Sénégal and the company local Monin syrups.

Are there hidden intentions behind the flourishing of this new practice? Is this the way to circumvent a form of tax? “In France, it seems complicated to me. Tax inflation is quite significant, even more so for players declared for tax purposes abroad. For the case of Kylian Mbappé and the Englishman Trent Alexander-Arnold (whose desire is believed to buy FC Nantes, which President Waldemar Kita has denied)that this is an attempt at tax optimization would be surprising”analyzes Pierre Rondeau.

However, a problem may arise when a football player crosses paths with a team he owns on the pitch. To date, the statutes of the Professional Football League (LFP) do not provide for any particular provision. But, just like timeshares, the issue will surely end up being considered.