In February, the German Football League (DFL) cancelled the planned billion-euro deal to give financial investor CVC a stake in the Bundesliga's media revenues, following ongoing fan protests. „A successful continuation of the process no longer seems possible in view of current developments,“ said DFL Supervisory Board Chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke after the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee in Frankfurt. The decision was unanimous.

From the fans' point of view, the sale of shares would have been a kind of opening of the floodgates. They pay little attention to the difference between a portion of future marketing revenues being sold off to invest in areas such as digitalisation, and a private equity company owning a majority stake in an individual club. Both represent the devil for many football fans.

Recent events in France seem to have given fresh validation to this viewpoint: French financial prosecutors raided the offices of private equity firm CVC, and the French Football Federation, in early November, as part of an investigation into possible corruption. The investigation follows a complaint lodged with the Ministry of Justice almost a year ago by the anti-corruption association „AC!!“ in connection with an agreement between the Ligue de Football Professionnel and CVC.

Under the agreement announced in April 2022, CVC had acquired a 13% stake in the league's commercial subsidiary, LFP Media, in return for a 1.5 billion euros investment – at a time when French football was struggling with a failed broadcasting deal. The subsidiary is responsible for marketing the television rights for the French professional leagues.

The French Senate also conducted an investigation into the deal this year. According to a report by the Bloomberg news agency, the financial prosecutor's office is investigating possible misuse of public funds, bribery of a public official, and unauthorised conflicts of interest. It is rumoured that league officials have enriched themselves in connection with CVC's investment. CVC did not wish to comment on this when asked by Börsen-Zeitung.

Several leagues have already raised a lot of money via investor models. CVC not only invested 1.5 billion euros in the French Ligue 1 in 2021 and 2022, but also 2.7 billion euros in the Spanish La Liga. Only Real Madrid and FC Barcelona rejected the deal with the financial investor, which receives 11% of league revenues in Spain. In the case of Ligue 1, the deal was for a 13% stake in its marketing subsidiary.

CVC also had previous experience with the marketing of broadcasting rights to sporting events. The UK investment firm, which is listed on the stock exchange in Amsterdam, and formally has its headquarters in Jersey, and manages funds out of Luxembourg, was once the owner of Formula 1. In football, CVC, which is managed in Germany by ex-Goldman Sachs banker Alexander Dibelius, is one of the world's leading investment companies.

Interest in the impact of the raid and CVC's involvement in Ligue 1 will thus be high. The distribution key of the French first division clubs for the proceeds from the sale of shares is known – and quite unequal: Paris Saint-Germain received the largest share at 200 million dollars. Lyon and Marseille each received slightly less than 100 million dollars, while several other clubs, including Nice and Monaco, received around 87.7 million dollars.

Elsewhere in Europe, too, private equity investments on the football pitch are often bumpy. Chinese private equity investor Lion Rock, for example, had a bad experience in Italy. Together with Suning Holding, which is also Chinese, the financial investor invested in the Italian football club Inter Milan. Suning took over the club in 2016, and three years later brought Lion Rock on board as a minority investor with a good 30% stake.

However, in May of this year, the shareholders had to hand over the keys to the club to Oaktree Capital. The US investor had granted Inter Milan a rescue loan with an interest rate of around 12% in May 2021, after the club got into financial difficulties due to the coronavirus crisis. The 275 million euros loan was collateralised by the Chinese owners' shares in the club. If the accrued interest is added, the club would have had to repay a total of 395 million euros to Oaktree on the due date. As this did not happen, Oaktree took over the football club instead.

The fans remain opposed to private equity. The supporters of Hertha BSC, for example, already feel burned by financial investors. In November 2022, US financial investor 777 Partners, which also owns stakes in six other clubs, acquired a 64.7% stake in Hertha BSC GmbH & Co KGaA from controversial entrepreneur Lars Windhorst. The transaction was the largest purchase by a foreign company in the Bundesliga to date, and the largest single investment in the sports business for 777 Partners.

It was also the latest example of the trend towards combining several clubs into one group of companies. The Miami-based financial investor 777 Football Group was until recently managed by co-founders Steven Pasko and Josh Wander. However, they were replaced when the company got into difficulties. The private equity firm is in dispute with lender Leadenhall Capital Partners. According to „Kicker“, its main creditor Advantage Capital Group has commissioned the investment bank Moelis to look for buyers for the Hertha share, which has now grown to almost 79%.

However, Bundesliga clubs do not necessarily need financial investors for fresh equity. Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG has invited shareholders to its Annual General Meeting on 2 December. The shareholders will then decide on a planned capital increase. New shares are to bring in 66 million euros for the professional football company, without affecting the influence of the sports club Eintracht Frankfurt as majority shareholder. In return, any new shareholder is to cede its voting rights to the club.