How investors profit from soccer even as Premier League club losses skyrocket

Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Everton and Liverpool at Hill Dickinson Stadium on April 19, 2026 in Liverpool, England. Liverpool Fc | Liverpool Fc | Getty ImagesFenway Sports Group sold a minority stake in Liverpool Football Club to a consortium including Jeff Bezos on Friday, in a deal worth over $7 billion. Almost 16 years after the Boston-based group rescued Liverpool from the brink of administration for a cut-price £300 million ($405.9 million), FSG partially cashes out with an enormous return on investment after a remarkable turnaround that saw the Merseyside club win multiple domestic and European trophies. But while English football clubs are increasingly drawing interest from sophisticated investors across the globe, they remain risky and often unprofitable ventures. Deloitte's annual football finance review found that aggregate pre-tax losses for the 20 English Premier League clubs totaled £948 million in the 2024/25 season, a "notable deterioration" of more than 600% from the previous season. Only eight clubs reported an operating profit that year, compared to 13 in the season before, accordi...