With many football clubs financially weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, takeovers and the emergence of fresh bids for ownership are an almost weekly occurrence. And, usually, the bidders already own another club.
Polish second-tier outfit GKS Tychy were recently acquired by Pacific Media Group, which already owned seven other clubs. Fourteen-time Irish champions Dundalk attracted interest from the Turkish owners of English Championship side Hull City, and Chelsea’s owners – after having a bid for Portuguese club Portimonense rejected – are now said to be courting French side Strasbourg. The new owners of Manchester United – assuming that the Glazers do indeed sell – could own or have indirect control in another club if the UK’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who has interest in both French side Nice and Swiss club Lausanne-Sport, fends off competition from rival bidder Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani from Qatar, while Elliott Investment Management, who sold Milan last year but retain a minority stake in the Italian champions, have also
