Football's Secret Trade (eBook)

How the Player Transfer Market was Infiltrated

Alex Duff, Tariq Panja (Autoren)

eBook Download: PDF

2017
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-119-14545-5 (ISBN)

Infos

A no-holds-barred exposé on the financial transactions of the world's favourite sport

The transfer fees clubs pay to sign top players now top ?4 billion a year but much of the money has been flowing out of the game. A small group of wealthy investors including Russian oligarchs, English racehorse owners and a former billionaire gold miner have seized the opportunity to enter this booming market.

Some have moved in on the territory of banks and lent money to clubs in exchange for a share in fees generated by Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and dozens more of today's stars. Others have acquired obscure teams to get a piece of the pie.

Even as the global financial crisis sent fortunes tumbling this select group found a profitable place to park their money. The size of the transfer market has continued to rise -- it increased seven-fold in value the last two decades, more than the FTSE share index.

Between them, these wealthy investors have amassed hundreds of millions of euros in profits. At the same time, they have managed to stay out of the spotlight the world's most popular sport brings.

Football's Secret Trade follows the money along a trail very few know about, from nondescript offices in the U.K. and ramshackle stadiums of South American clubs you have probably never heard of to offshore bank accounts in the Caribbean. Warning - you won't see a major transfer deal in the same light again. 

ALEX DUFF is a senior communications expert for FIFPro, the international football players' union. He has worked as a reporter for UK newspapers and Associated Press in Rio de Janeiro and Bloomberg News in Madrid. He has exposed the business workings behind some of the biggest names in sport, including tennis player Rafael Nadal and the Amaury family, which owns the Tour de France.

TARIQ PANJA has worked as a reporter for the Manchester Evening News, Associated Press and Bloomberg News in London and Rio de Janeiro. He has broken news on some of the biggest stories in soccer, including the takeover of Liverpool, Manchester United's float on the New York Stock exchange and the unprecedented scandal that threatened to bring down FIFA. After covering Brazil's bumpy journey towards hosting the World Cup and Summer Olympics, Tariq has returned to the UK and is once again based in London.

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A no-holds-barred expos on the financial transactions of the world's favourite sport The transfer fees clubs pay to sign top players now top 4 billion a year but much of the money has been flowing out of the game. A small group of wealthy investors including Russian oligarchs, English racehorse owners and a former billionaire gold miner have seized the opportunity to enter this booming market. Some have moved in on the territory of banks and lent money to clubs in exchange for a share in fees generated by Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and dozens more of today's stars. Others have acquired obscure teams to get a piece of the pie. Even as the global financial crisis sent fortunes tumbling this select group found a profitable place to park their money. The size of the transfer market has continued to rise - it increased seven-fold in value the last two decades, more than the FTSE share index. Between them, these wealthy investors have amassed hundreds of millions of euros in profits. At the same time, they have managed to stay out of the spotlight the world s most popular sport brings. Football s Secret Trade follows the money along a trail very few know about, from nondescript offices in the U.K. and ramshackle stadiums of South American clubs you have probably never heard of to offshore bank accounts in the Caribbean. Warning you won t see a major transfer deal in the same light again.

Inhalt

Football's Secret Trade: How the Player Transfer Market was Infiltrated 1
Contents 7
Prologue 9
Chapter 1: The Son of Jesús 17
Chapter 2: The Chess Champion 31
Chapter 3: The British Tax Exile 49
Chapter 4: An East End Scandal 61
Chapter 5: The Prime Minister's Men 75
Chapter 6: The 100-to-1 Shot 87
Chapter 7: The Switzerland of South America 101
Chapter 8: ``Todo Pasa´´ 115
Chapter 9: Buenos Aires to Manchester 129
Chapter 10: ``I Want 40% for the Boy´´ 145
Chapter 11: The Pharmacist's Medicine 159
Chapter 12: Working on a Dream 169
Chapter 13: The Baur au Lac 183
Chapter 14: The End Game? 195
Epilogue 207
Bibliography 215
Acknowledgments 217
About the Authors 219
Index 221
End User License Agreement 233

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 29.3.2017
• Reihe/Serie: Bloomberg
• Reihe/Serie: Bloomberg
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sport ► Ballsport ► Fußball
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre ► Makroökonomie
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre ► Mikroökonomie
• Schlagworte: british premier league • Economics • Fédération Internationale de Football Association • FIFA • football money • football organizations • football ownership • football's richest owners • Fussball • international football finance • international soccer finance • international soccer leagues • investing in football teams • Macroeconomics • Makroökonomie • Makroökonomie • player transfer market • premier league trades • premier soccer • Soccer • soccer money • soccer's riches owners • soccer team owners • soccer team ownership • soccer team trades • soccer trades • soccer transfer market • Transfermarkt • Volkswirtschaftslehre
• ISBN-10: 1-119-14545-7 / 1119145457
• ISBN-13: 978-1-119-14545-5 / 9781119145455