Creating value in football: unveiling business activities and strategies of financial investors

A new group of football investors has emerged to focus on direct financial returns, but little is known about their business activities and the strategies they employ for generating value. This paper aims to better understand these activities and unveil distinct value-creation strategies. Through 16 self-conducted and six publicly available interviews and documents, we analyzed 61 transactions involving 37 investors using the grounded theory methodology. Football investors follow four parallel micro-processes: horizoning, focusing, synchronizing, and creating value. Through these four microprocesses and their properties, they develop five distinctive strategies for value creation: Phoenix Strategy, (Cash) Cow Strategy, Gazelle Strategy, Ants Colony Strategy, and Eagle's Nest Strategy. The findings of this study contribute to conventional investment theory and help stakeholders guide their actions in light of the increasing presence of football investors who focus on direct financial returns.