SERIE A: THE MCOs & CLUB PARTNERSHIPS
This analysis does not include clubs outside of Serie ‘A’ thats for Part II
This article looks at the MCOs and club partnerships within Serie ‘A’ 2025/26 season
AS Roma
95.97% Romulus & Remus Investments LLC - owned by Dan Friedkin
98.8% Everton FC (UK)
98% AS Cannes (France)
Dan Friedkin's Business Empire - Net With $8bn - main revenues from
Gulf States Toyota Distributors (Primary Revenue Source),
Imperative Entertainment: Film production company
Auberge Resorts Collection: 25 luxury boutique hotels worldwide
Created Pursuit Sports (2025) a subsidiary to house their sporting assets
Atalanta B.C
99.11% La Dea Srl, the controlling holding company of Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio S.p.A.
55% Stephen Pagliuca Consortium, of which Arctos Partners owns 6% of Stephen Pagliuca Consortium
Arctos Partners has a 12.5% stake in Qatar Sports Investments which owns PSG (France), 29% in SC Braga (Portugal) and owns 5% stake in Fenway Sports Group, owners of Liverpool FC
Bologna FC 1909
99.3% Joey Saputo
CF Montréal (MLS): Founding owner since 1992
0.93% Shilen Patel (USA), owner of English Football League team West Bromwich Albion
Pisa FC
75% Alexander Knaster
Through Iconic Sport invested $75m in iconic Sports which owns 16.8% in Eagle Football holdings which owns Lyon (France), Molenbeek (Belgium) and Botafogo (Brazil)
Alexander Knaster is a Key investor and an advisory partner of Tifosy Capital & Advisory
Knaster founded Pamplona Capital Management 2005 (AuM $15bn) which receives significant financial banking from Russian oligarchs, 2005 received £2bn from Alfa Group led by Russian Mikhail Fridman’s, 2013 Pamplona partnered with LetterOne Investment Holdings (Mikhail company) and has overseen £3bn+ of investments.
2022 EU sanctioned Mikhail Fridman, Pamplona announced decision to "disentangle itself" from LetterOne, three years later there are still complications
Parma Calcio 1913
99% Krause Group Italia (Kyle J. Krause)
Owns Des Moines Menace (USL-2) franchise owned since 1998
SSC Napoli
100% Aurelio De Laurentiis
100% SSC Bari (Serie B) - Ownership Filmauro: De Laurentiis family (Aurelio son Luigi)
Juventus
Juventus minority investors also innvest in other sporting organisations
5% Lindsell Train Investments owns stakes (9.3%) Manchester United (UK), 95.75) Celtic FC (Scotland) and Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
10.12% Tether Sports Investmentalso have a partnership with FC Lugano (Switz)
Inter Milan
99.6% Oaktree Capital Management
D.C United (MLS) - Stephen Kaplan co-president. also Oaktree Co-Founder
LAFC (MLS) - Bruce Karsh Co-Owner, also Oaktree Co-president
Genoa FC
77% Dan Sucu Romanian businessman acquired control of Genoa CFC in December 2024 through a capital increase
23% A-CAP: Advantage Capital Holdings LLC acquired 777 Partners shares - shares contain no voting rights
90% Rapid Bucharest (Romania) - Dan Sucu
A-Cap unsuccessfully attempted to block the sale of Genoa CFC to Dan Șucu, claiming it retained voting rights through its 2023 loan to the club. However, the Court of Genoa dismissed A-Cap's claims in April 2025, ruling that A-Cap "is not and has never been the holder of the right to challenge the Shareholders' Meeting Resolution, as it is not listed among the shareholders of Genoa CFC"
ACF Fiorentina
97% Rocco B. Commisso, Italian-American billionaire and founder of Mediacom Communications Corporation
New York Cosmos (USA) - Commisso's first major football ownership when he purchased a majority stake in January 2017.
AC Milan
99.3% RedBird Capital Partners owned by RedBird Fund IV (Founded by Gerry Cardinale)
85% Toulouse FC (France)
11% Fenway Sports Group (Owners of Liverpool FC)
15% Rajasthan Royals (Indian Premier League)
24% F1 Alpine Racing (part of a consortium)
RedBird formed a JV with Abu Dhabi based International Media Investments (IMI) called RedBird IMI
Elliot Management were owners of AC Milan and sold two RedBird Capital 2022, when they sold to RedBird Capital partners for $1.2bn, RedBird Cash paid €600 million upfront, Elliott Vendor Loan: €550-560 million financed by Elliott at 7% annual interest Loan Maturity: Originally due August 2025, extended to 2028. Italian Financial Police Investigation (2024): Examined whether sale was merely a "front" with Elliott maintaining effective control, also accusing them of market manipulation, Circular 47% Finance, AC Milan sale generated higher returns than typical distressed debt investments:
Udinese Calcio FC
100% owned by Giampaolo Pozzo through Gesapar Holding
Gino Pozzo (Son) owns Watford FC (England)
August 2025 in discussion to sell a majority stake that involves Chelsea FC minority stake holder Mark Walters Guggenheim Partners (AuM $357bn) and others
2024 Mark Walter co founded TWG Global Holdings which received $10bn from Mubadal Capital (UAE State Fund) in return TWG Global invested $5bn into Mubadala Capital
Club Partnerships
AS Roma and Nagoya Grampus (Japan) which also partners with Everton FC another club in the Friedkin portfolio.
AS Roma also partners with Hackney Wick FC (England) - Non-League Partner (2025): 12 months : Support London community club that "gets kids off the streets
Torino FC and Racing Seattle City FC (USA) a club within the Racing City Group portfolio (which claims to be the largest MCO group in World football)
U.S Sassuolo FC and Kleinburg Nobleton Soccer Club (USA)
SSC Lazio and Cosmopolitano FC (Brazil)
Como 1907 and Ajax (Holland) plus Real Madrid (Spain) - Youth player aquisition
Cagliari and Ureña Sport Club (Venezuela)
Atalanta BC and Adelaide City FC (Australia)
Reasons to why clubs form Club Partnerships
Technical partnerships eliminate the costs of club acquisition or investment.
Up skilling learning about each others environment and how each other operates.
Partnerships can be instantly financially beneficial to the bigger clubs whilst the investing club can gain a long term ROI
Clubs can enter emerging markets with minimal complications, whilst clubs can rapidly pivot partnerships to address evolving needs
Fans perceptions of club partnerships are significantly different to those of acquisitions.
Avoid NGBs conflict-of-Interest rules, FIFA / UEFA prohibits sister clubs from competing in the same European tournament. Example CWC, If LAFC win their playoff vs Club America LAFC & FC Bayern Munich will be cleared to participate despite having a joint venture in club partnerships and club acquisitions through Red&Gold.
Partner clubs defined as having no minority or majority ownership stake and the partner club being a professional team.