Football is the most popular sport in the world with billions in revenue generated through TV deals, advertising, sponsorship, merchandising, gate receipts and more. It is big business and responsible for a growing number of jobs and related industries.
Many fans over the years have wanted to own shares in a football club. This could be either in a team they support or a club they think is poised to do well and therefore potentially enjoy share price growth. If you had bought shares in Manchester Utd in 1990 for example you would have done very well as they went on to become the financial behemoth bought out by the Glazer family in 2003. Equally there are some clubs that have been mismanaged and have seen their share prices drop, so like anything else in life there are stories of both success and failure.
If you were looking to buy shares in a football club today however, which ones are available on the stock market to purchase shares in? Well unfortunately there aren’t that many actually available to buy shares in as most clubs now are privately owned, with the likes of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City and FSG at Liverpool having full ownership of their respective clubs.
However, we take a look below at some of the most famous and prominent clubs that are currently available on the stock market to buy shares in (please note none of this is investment advice or recommendations to buy these shares, if you are considering doing so please speak to an Independent Financial Advisor. The value of investments can go down as well as up).
Juventus
- Stock exchange: Borsa Italiana
- Ticker Symbol: JUVE
- Year listed: 2001
- Approx. market cap (at time of writing): €1 bn
- Shares in issue: 1.33 bn
- Currency: Euro
Nicknamed “the Old Lady,” Juventus are the most successful club in Italian football having won an incredible 35 Serie A titles, including an impressive eight in a row up until the 2019/20 season. They have also won 13 Coppa Italia crowns but perhaps surprisingly have only won two Champions Leagues in their history, having lost seven of the nine finals they have played in.
The club were involved in a match-fixing scandal in 2006 which resulted in their relegation to Serie B. They were also stripped of their 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles due to the scandal. Juventus returned to the top flight in the 2007/8 season and have enjoyed an unprecedented spell of success since then.
Their most famous current player is Cristiano Ronaldo who signed for €100m from Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2018. Alessandro Del Piero holds the record for most appearances (705), most Serie A appearances (478) and most goals for the club (290).
Shares in Juventus are available on the Italian Stock Exchange.
Celtic
- Stock exchange: London Stock Exchange
- Ticker Symbol: CCP
- Year listed: 2005
- Approx. market cap (at time of writing): £100 million
- Shares in issue: 96 m
- Currency: Pound Sterling
are based in Glasgow and have achieved outstanding success in Scottish football, racking up 50 Scottish Premier League titles, 39 Scottish Cups and 19 Scottish League Cups. They have a strong rivalry with their city competitors Glasgow Rangers and are one half of what is often referred to as the “Old Firm.” Matches between the two sides usually have a red-hot atmosphere and are fiercely contested.
Celtic’s greatest achievement came in 1967 when they won the European Cup in Lisbon, defeating Italian champions Inter Milan 2-1 in the final. Celtic won every competition they entered that season and the team became known as the “Lisbon Lions.” The club reached the European Cup final again in 1970 but went down to a 2-1 defeat by Dutch club Feyenoord.
Arguably Celtic’s most famous ever player is Sir Kenny Dalglish, who went on to play for and manage Liverpool FC. Billy McNeill holds the record for most appearances for Celtic (822) whilst Jimmy McGrory holds the record for most goals (522). At the time of writing the club had won eight league titles in a row going into the 2019/20 season.
Shares in Celtic are available on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Borussia Dortmund
- Stock exchange: Börse Frankfurt
- Ticker Symbol: BVB
- Year listed: 2000
- Approx. market cap (at time of writing): €570 million
- Shares in issue: 92 m
- Currency: Euro
are one of the leading clubs in the German Bundesliga, having won eight league titles, four German Cups, one Champions League title and one FIFA World Club Cup (previously Intercontinental Cup). They have the highest average attendance of any club in Europe, with their Westfalenstadion stadium holding over 81,000 spectators and regularly being full to capacity. Dortmund are known for their passionate fans and free-flowing football.
The club’s first “golden era” occurred in the 1990s when they captured back-to-back league titles in 1995 and 1996 under manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, before going on to be crowned European Champions in 1997 and World Club Champions later that same year.
Their second golden era came under the charismatic leadership of manager Jurgen Klopp, who guided Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, the German Cup in 2012 and a runners-up finish in the Champions League in 2013 where they narrowly lost 2-1 in the final to arch-rivals Bayern Munch, thanks to a late Arjen Robben goal.
Michael Zorc has the record of most appearances for Dortmund (463), whilst Alfred Preissler has scored the most goals for the club (168).
Shares in Borussia Dortmund are available on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and they are currently the only publicly-traded German football club.
AS Roma
- Stock exchange: Borsa Italiana
- Ticker Symbol: ASR
- Year listed: 2001
- Approx. market cap (at time of writing): €260 million
- Shares in issue: 630 m
- Currency: Euro
Italian club AS Roma have the proud record of only having spent one year in their history outside of Italy’s top flight. They have won three Serie A titles, nine Italian Cups and two Italian Supercups. They narrowly lost the 1984 European Cup final to Liverpool FC on penalties after the game ended 1-1.
Roma are based at the Stadio Olimpico, which they share with their city rivals Lazio. The stadium has a capacity of over 70,000 making it the second largest in Serie A. They plan to move to a new stadium – the Stadio della Roma – but building work has not yet started on their new home.
The club’s most legendary player is Francesco Totti, who played a staggering 785 games for Roma spanning 25 seasons, a club record. Totti also holds the record for most goals for Roma, with a total of 307, of which 250 were scored in Serie A.
AS Roma are listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, with 67% of the shares being held privately (principally by the Sensi family) and the other 33% by public shareholders.
Manchester United
- Stock exchange: New York Stock Exchange
- Ticker Symbol: MANU
- Year listed: 2012
- Approx. market cap (at time of writing): $2.47 bn
- Shares in issue: 165 m
- Currency: US Dollar
Nicknamed the “Red Devils,” English club Manchester Utd have amassed an impressive array of silverware including 20 league titles, 12 FA Cups, five League Cups, three Champions Leagues and one Europa League. They have won the most domestic competitions of any English club, but trail their great rivals Liverpool FC in terms of Champions League titles, with the Merseysiders having won six. Manchester United play their football at Old Trafford, which with a capacity of just under 75,000 is the largest stadium in the Premier League.
The club’s first era of dominance came in the 1950s and 1960s under the leadership of manager Matt Busby, who guided them to league titles in 1952, 1956 and 1957 before a tragic air disaster in Munich in 1958 claimed the lives of 23 players and staff. Busby embarked on rebuilding the team and with the signing of club greats George Best, Bobby Charlton and Dennis Law won the league title in 1965 and 1967 before becoming the first English club to win the European Cup in 1968 with a 4-1 victory over Benfica in the final.
The second major era of success for Man Utd came in the 1990s and 2000s under manager Alex Ferguson who led them to 13 Premier League titles, a record for any manager in the English top flight, as well as five FA Cups, four League Cups and two Champions League titles. Ferguson built a number of highly successful teams in his time as manager, but the apex was surely the team that captured the continental treble in 1999, (consisting of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League) and featured luminaries including David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs and Peter Schmeichel.
After taking the club private in 2003 for £800m, the Glazer family decided to list a portion of shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012. However, the shares were split into class A and B, with the shares available on the stock market being class A and having no dividend rights and B shares having 10 times the voting power of class A shares. This meant the Glazers would maintain a controlling interest in the club and the value of the shares available amounted to only $233 million, versus the club’s valuation at the time of $2.3 bn.
Shares in Manchester Utd are available on the New York Stock Exchange (LSE).
SS Lazio
- Stock exchange: Borsa Italiana
- Ticker Symbol: SSL
- Year listed: 2000
- Approx. market cap (at time of writing): €82 million
- Shares in issue: 68 m
- Currency: Euro
The city neighbours of AS Roma, Lazio are also listed on the stock exchange like their great rivals. Lazio have won two Serie A titles, seven Italian Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and one UEFA Super Cup.
They had their main period of success in the late 1990s, culminating in capturing the Cup Winners Cup and Super Cup in 1999 and Serie A/Coppa Italia double in 2000. Their team at that time included top players such as Alessandro Nesta, Siniša Mihajlović, Marcelo Salas and Pavel Nedvěd and was managed by Sven-Goran Erikssen. In the early to mid-90s they spent £5.5m on English superstar Paul Gascoigne, who unfortunately had a spate of injuries whilst at the club and never fulfilled his true potential there.
In 2002 Lazio suffered severe financial difficulties which forced the resignation of President Sergio Cragnotti and the sale of several star players. Cragnotti had been known for spending large sums in the transfer market on players like Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron and Christian Vieri but that kind of spending was clearly unsustainable and the club had to lower its expenditure. Despite those financial pressures, Lazio still went on to win four Coppa Italias between 2004 and 2019.
The player with the most appearances for Lazio is Giuseppe Favalli (401) and the player with the most goals is Silvio Piola (149).
Lazio are listed on the Italian Stock Exchange and were the first club to be listed in Italy.
Summary
So there are some of the top football clubs you can buy shares in. This is by no means an exhaustive list – other clubs with the availability of shares include Glasgow Rangers, Arsenal (small number of shares available) and Trabzonspor. The fact is though there are’t many clubs you can buy shares in – the vast majority of clubs are owned by private individuals who enjoy the prestige of owning a football club, or private companies who attempt to extract a profit. Other forms of ownership include fan ownership, although that is not common these days.
While the idea of owning shares in a football club can appear romantic, it carries all the same risks of other forms of investing in shares and advice from an Independent Financial Advisor should always be sought before doing so.
The contents of this website are intended for educational and information purposes only and do not constitute any form of advice or recommendation and are not intended to be relied upon by you in making (or refraining to make) any specific investment or other decisions. Appropriate expert independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. We cannot and do not offer individual investment advice.
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