Could Mesut Özil soon to be a club owner?
That is the question posed in the Swiss press today, in turn quoting Bild, the German newspaper. They say, (obviously in German) that “the former Real Madrid and Arsenal player, now at Fenerbahçe, would like to acquire Corum FK, a Turkish third division club.”
Now Mesut Özil has not been lazy over the years, just resting on his laurels and so forth, because he has taken on a number of business activities. He is an adviser to the company Class 5 Global, he owns his own clothing brand, M10 Streetwear, and esports (via his M10 eSports company), and now he has started to invest in clubs.
For seemingly along with actress Eva Longoria and model Kate Upton, he is part of a consortium of investors that acquired shares in Necaxa, a Mexican first division club, in April. The Mexican league plays two tournaments each year, and in the first one of the current football calendar Necaxa finished 14th. They last won the league in 1998.
Now 14th out of 17 may not sound too good but it hasn’t put Mesur Özil off as he is reportedly looking to buy another club.
According to the Bild, “the Fenerbahçe player, Mesut Ozil is looking to acquire Corum FK in Turkey”. The President of that club has recently retired, and is said to be looking for, “A world-class player from Turkey is interested in buying the club.”
Bild also has state that Fatih Özcan is asking for around £1.1m for the club. Özil is said to earn around £2.5m a year playing in Turkey.
Corum FK is currently in 6th place in the Turkish league and has hopes of promotion to the second tier of the nation’s league. Apparently the Corum captain Umut Kaya has said that,”The contact came through Irfan Can Kahveci, who plays with Özil at Fenerbahce and comes from Corum.”
And just to add a spot of detail here is the current Turkish league table at the end of the initial 19 game phase.
| Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Sakaryaspor | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 41 | 8 | +33 | 45 |
| 2 | Hekimoglu T. | 19 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 32 | 14 | +18 | 40 |
| 3 | Afjet Afyonspor | 19 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 21 | +19 | 37 |
| 4 | Bayburt | 19 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 28 | 19 | +9 | 36 |
| 5 | Sivas Belediyes | 19 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 37 | 18 | +19 | 34 |
| 6 | Corum | 19 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 28 | 12 | +16 | 34 |
| 7 | Somaspor | 19 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 30 | 22 | +8 | 32 |
| 8 | Van Buyuksehir | 19 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 32 |
| 9 | Bodrumspor | 19 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 31 |
| 10 | Osmanlispor | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 32 | 22 | +10 | 30 |
| 11 | Serik Belediyes | 19 | 9 | 2 | 8 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 29 |
| 12 | Inegolspor | 19 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 27 | -6 | 24 |
| 13 | Yeni Diyarbekir | 19 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 22 | 24 | -2 | 22 |
| 14 | Turgutluspor | 19 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 20 | 30 | -10 | 22 |
| 15 | Etimesgut | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 27 | -7 | 21 |
| 16 | Adiyaman 1954 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 23 | 36 | -13 | 16 |
| 17 | Sariyer | 19 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 30 | -12 | 15 |
| 18 | Ergene Velimese | 19 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 17 | 41 | -24 | 12 |
| 19 | Kahramanmar. | 19 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 51 | -39 | 8 |
| 20 | Nigde Anadolu | 19 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 46 | -35 | 6 |
Now it should not be thought that Mesut is out there on his own as a player owning a club. Thanks for information from 90mins I can add that Ronaldo, for example, owns Valladolid who play in the second division in Spain.
And as you cannot have failed to notice, David Beckham owns Inter Miami, which joined MLS in 2020.
The Neville brothers and another load of old Mancunians bought Salford City and since the purchase in 2007/8 have had five promotions and are now in League Two having entered the Football League in 2019, with ambitions to get finally into the Championship.
They also won the EFL trophy in 2020. There was actually an interesting Sky film on the club and the owner as they failed to make the playoffs last season – if it is repeated it is worth a look.
Didier Drogba did things differently by buying the club while he was playing for them: Phoenix Rising which plays in the USA in front of crowds of about 7000 and are looking upward towards MLS football.
Francis Lee became chairman of Manchester City, and although the on the pitch experience under his ownership was pretty disastrous, financially it worked and he sold out to Thaksin Shinawatra who then sold out to… well you know.
And finally, Demba Ba and Eden Hazard started their own club in the USA: San Diego 1904.
So players owning clubs – yes it is happening, and at all sorts of levels.
“Mistakes are made but officials are not biased”. The proof that they are.
