Private equity investment in European football continues to expand far and wide, this time into the lucrative sub-sector that is player management.
Bruin Capital and TJC have launched AS1, a new football agency formed by merging four well-established firms: Promoesport, Nomi Sports, Position Number and Football Division Worldwide.
Based in London, AS1 will manage over 300 players, including Premier League stars Bruno Fernandes, Luis Díaz and Moisés Caicedo. The agency’s roster will also span across leagues La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.
The agency is valued at €295 million (around $309.4 million), including debt, according to the Financial Times.
The formation of AS1 aligns with a broader trend of PE investments in sports representation. In 2022, for example, Providence Equity Partners invested in the agency Wasserman, acquiring the firm from Madrone Capital Partners and RedBird Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount.
This only adds to the rapid growth of football investment by private investors seen in recent years. Dealmaking within the Big Five football leagues rose from €66.7 million in 2018 to €4.9 billion in 2023, according to PitchBook data.
Major deals included Chelsea’s £2.5 billion (around $3.2 billion) sale to US-based PE firms, marking the largest such deal ever, and acquisitions of AC Milan, Newcastle United and Atalanta BC.
As of August 2024, a total of 33 out of 96 European football clubs in the “Big Five” leagues had financial backing from private equity, venture capital or private debt firms.
Furthermore, this rise of private investors has paralleled a significant increase in multi-club ownership within Europe’s Big Five leagues. In the 2024-2025 season, MCOs hold stakes in 41.7% of clubs, up from 36.7% just two seasons earlier. US investors are leading this trend, becoming a dominant presence across many of these top leagues.
AS1’s establishment highlights a continued investment into sports from private equity and how firms are still finding strong areas of growth within it.
According to its 2023 Football Agents in International Transfers, FIFA found that agents earned a record $888 million from international football transfers in 2023, a lucrative area AS1 is hoping to capitalize on.
Featured image by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
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