Women’s Football Finance

By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw

Everton FC have sold, for a sum believed to be of around £60 million (around €69.5 million), their women's team to their parent company which owns the club, which is intended to improve their compliance with the English Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

The women’s team has been purchased by Roundhouse Capital Holdings, which is owned and controlled by the American businessman, Dan Friedkin.

In fact, the Friedkin Group completed its takeover of Everton in December 2024.

This move also allows the women's team to act as a standalone entity and attract minority investments.

The Everton men's team also benefits from the sale being recorded as revenue in the club's accounts, which has a positive impact on their PSR situation.

Under PSR, football clubs cannot exceed losses of £105 million (around €121.5 million) during a three-year period. Everton had points deducted in 2021-22 and 2022-23 for breaching the Rules.

Everton are the third English Premier League football club to sell their women's team to comply with PSR.

On 28 June 2024, Chelsea FC sold their women's team for around £200 million (around €231.5 million) to their parent company BlueCo Sport Company, an investment consortium, which was formed for the takeover of Chelsea in 2022. Subsequently, the team attracted the attention of the Reddit founder, Alexis Ohanian, the American Internet Entrepreneur, who purchased an 8-10% minority stake for £20 million (around €23.1 million) on 14 May 2025.

On 30 June 2025, Aston Villa sold its women's team for £60 million (around €69.5 million) to V Sports, which is jointly owned by American billionaire, Wes Edens, and Egyptian billionaire, Nassef Sawiris, with a minority stake held by the American investment firm, Atairos.

With the recent successful completion of the UEFA 2025 Women’s EURO football tournament, held in Switzerland, women’s football is certainly a hot property, from a sporting and an investment point of view, and will continue to be so in the future!