The only U.S. firm built for European sports M&A.
We are the sports counsel of choice for U.S. investors, family offices, and multi-club platforms acquiring and operating football clubs across the world's top football leagues.
We play to win.
A sports M&A lawyer advises buyers, sellers, and investors on the acquisition, sale, and financing of professional sports clubs and sports-related businesses. Club transactions differ from ordinary M&A in three ways. First, every deal runs through a regulatory layer: league and federation approvals, owners’ and directors’ tests, and change of control procedures that sit on top of the purchase agreement. Second, the asset itself is unusual: sporting performance, promotion and relegation, player registrations, stadium arrangements, and media rights all drive value and risk in ways a standard diligence checklist misses. Third, most transactions for U.S. investors are cross-border, layering foreign entity structures, tax, and local counsel coordination onto the deal.
Ebadat has closed club acquisitions and sales across Ligue 1, La Liga, and the Czech leagues, advised bid groups in Serie A, and counsels multi-club ownership platforms on structure and governance. We published the first legal guide for U.S. investors in European football, and we advise the funds and family offices behind the clubs through our fund formation and M&A practices.
What does a Sports M&A Lawyer do?
Trusted by the leading sports investors, owners, and multi-club platforms worldwide.
Club Acquisitions & Minority Stakes
A club acquisition is the purchase of a controlling or minority interest in a professional sports club, including the league approvals that condition closing. We represent buyers and investors in acquisitions and minority investments in clubs across top leagues worldwide. From early conversations with sellers through signing and closing, we structure and negotiate deals that protect your economics, governance rights, and downside risk.
Multi-Club Platforms
We design and implement multi club ownership structures that actually work in practice. That includes holding company design, ring fencing, regulatory strategy across leagues, and coordination with tax and local counsel so the platform can scale. Read our analysis of multi-club ownership structures.
League
Approvals
We coordinate league and federation approvals including owners’ and directors’ tests and UEFA multi-club ownership rules, fit and proper tests, and change of control procedures. We work with local counsel and regulators to prepare submissions, manage questions, and keep the deal timeline aligned with the competition calendar.
Venture & Growth Financing
We advise sports-focused funds, teams and operators, and sports technology founders on venture and growth financings, from term sheet to close. We run the full legal process, including deal structuring, diligence, negotiating definitive documents, and managing execution so you can move fast without taking on hidden risk.
Investment Structures & SPVs
We structure SPVs, co investor arrangements, and governance terms that align interests around the asset. That includes waterfall mechanics, management and board rights, sponsor economics, and protections for control and minority investors in a cross border setting.
Media & Sponsorship
We review and negotiate media, sponsorship, naming, and commercial rights agreements around the club asset. We focus on revenue allocation, term, exclusivity, and termination mechanics, and how those contracts interact with league and federation rules.
Featured News & Transactions
Your next sports transaction deserves a deal team that plays to win. Meet ours.
INSIGHTS & STRATEGIES
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you buy a professional football club?
Buying a professional football club follows the arc of a private M&A transaction with a regulatory layer on top: preliminary diligence and a letter of intent, league and federation notification, full diligence covering sporting, financial, and legal matters, negotiation of the purchase agreement, owners’ and directors’ testing and league approval, and closing. The league approval process conditions the deal and often drives the timeline.
How long does a football club acquisition take?
A club acquisition typically takes four to nine months from first approach to closing, depending on the league’s approval process, the condition of the club’s records, and whether the transaction involves competitive bidding. League calendars matter: parties often time closings around transfer windows and season boundaries.
What is an owners’ and directors’ test?
An owners’ and directors’ test is the fitness review that leagues and federations apply to proposed club owners and board members. The tests examine source of funds, criminal and regulatory history, existing football interests, and disqualifying conditions. Requirements vary by league, and preparing the submission properly is often the difference between a smooth approval and a stalled deal.
What are the multi-club ownership rules?
Multi-club ownership rules restrict common ownership or control of clubs that could meet in the same competition. UEFA rules limit the influence one owner may hold over multiple clubs in UEFA competitions, and individual leagues apply their own restrictions. Platforms manage these rules through holding company design, governance limits, and ring-fencing, which is a core part of our multi-club practice.
What diligence should a buyer run on a football club?
Club diligence covers the corporate and financial basics plus sport-specific matters: player contracts and registration rights, transfer obligations and receivables, agent arrangements, stadium ownership or lease terms, media and sponsorship contracts, league compliance and financial sustainability rules, historic liabilities, and the club’s academy and infrastructure obligations.
Can U.S. investors buy European football clubs?
Yes, and they increasingly do. U.S. investors face additional layers: foreign entity structuring, tax planning across jurisdictions, financing that works cross-border, and league rules that differ materially from U.S. sports. We published the first legal guide for U.S. investors in European football, which covers these questions league by league.
How are minority investments in clubs structured?
Minority club investments are typically structured through preferred equity or common equity with negotiated governance rights, including board representation, veto rights over major decisions, information rights, and exit mechanics such as put and call options, tag-along rights, and registration or sale process rights. The put and call mechanics are often the most heavily negotiated provisions.
Do you form sports investment funds and SPVs?
Yes. Through our fund formation practice we structure sports-focused funds, single-club SPVs, and co-investment vehicles, including the waterfall mechanics, sponsor economics, and governance terms that align investors around the asset.
