The Championship is one of the most exciting and competitive football divisions in European football, but it’s not a fair playing field financially.
Southampton are in imperious form in the championship and are among the clubs aiming to secure automatic promotion to the Premier League, which would mean bouncing back from the first request.
The Saints are competing with fellow relegated clubs Leicester City and Leeds United, along with newly promoted Ipswich Town, and the race for automatic promotion looks like it will go down to the wire.
Across the division, clubs are owned and funded by Americans and billionaire, billionaire and billionaire groups, all of whom are promoted to the richest league in world soccer, the Premier League.
Southampton are financed by Sport Republic, a sports investment firm founded by Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft, funded by Serbian businessman Dragan Solak.
Solak is the founder and majority owner of the United Group media house, which has become one of the most prominent media companies in South East Europe, providing broadband, mobile, and TV services in eight countries.
The Serbian and his consortium, majority shareholders of the Saints, bought Gao Jisheng’s shares, which constitute an 80% stake, in January 2022.
Solak is said to be worth €1. 22 billion and in 2021 was considered the richest man in Serbia. Such is the fate of his media company that is said to generate €2 billion (£1. 67 billion) each year.
The idea of Solak acquiring Southampton is part of a plan to create a Red Bull-style portfolio of clubs.
Despite being probably the richest man in Serbia, Solak’s wealth barely scratches the surface of the league’s richest owners.
According to the Sunderland Echo, the Serbian holds the league’s tenth net worth, estimated at £1 billion.
Southampton’s automatic rivals Ipswich have a $13 billion fund for the club from its majority owner, ORG.
The US investment fund which, according to the East Anglian Daily Times, “manages the budget on behalf of the US pension fund (the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System) and owns 90% of Gamechanger 20 Ltd. “
Southampton’s main competitors this season, aside from Town, are Yorkshire giants Leeds.
The Whites are owned by The 49ers Enterprises, who completed a full takeover ahead of the season. The group are the investment arm of the American football team the San Francisco 49ers and a number of high-profile sportsmen are minority stakeholders in the club, including golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas and NBA star Russell Westbrook.
Southampton is also behind Stoke City when it comes to wealth. Peter Coates and his son John are co-chairs of Stoke.
Coates founded Stadia Catering in the 1960s and local radio station Signal 1 in 1983 when he began to make his fortune and the family’s wealth grew when his daughter Denise founded the bet365 betting company in 2000, which now sponsors the Potters’ stadium.
bet365’s revenue amounted to £2. 981 billion in 2019.
Sunderland is also said to be ahead of Southampton on the list.
Sunderland’s majority shareholder, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, did not make his own money and is instead the heir to the empire built by his parents, Robert and Margaret, with a family fortune estimated at £4 billion.
Despite his immense wealth, the Sunderland Echo ranked him among the top 10 richest homeowners.
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