Who Is The New Owner Of Aston Villa F.C.?
Aston Villa Football Club, based in Birmingham, England is a professional football club founded in 1874. It is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in the country.
Aston Villa has won major titles, including seven First Division championships, seven FA Cups, and one European Cup in 1982.
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Aston Villa F.C. Premier League History
Aston Villa Football Club was one of the founding members when the league began in 1992. Aston Villa is also special because they were one of the few clubs, alongside Blackburn Rovers and Everton, to be founding members of both the Football League in 1888 and the Premier League.
In the Premier League’s first season, Aston Villa finished as runners-up to Manchester United, led by their manager Ron Atkinson.
Two years later, they won the League Cup by defeating Manchester United 3–1. However, the team struggled in the league, and Atkinson was replaced by Brian Little in 1994.
Little brought in young players like Gareth Southgate and Dwight Yorke, helping the club win another League Cup in 1996.
After this success, John Gregory became the manager in 1998 and guided Aston Villa to several top-eight finishes and an FA Cup final in 2000.
Still, the team was unable to compete with the top clubs, and key players like Gareth Southgate and Dwight Yorke moved on.
Gregory resigned in 2002, and Graham Taylor returned as manager but couldn’t improve the club’s position. David O’Leary took over in 2003 and had some early success, but Villa’s form dropped, and he left in 2006.
Randy Lerner, an American businessman, bought the club in 2006. Under manager Martin O’Neill, Villa finished sixth in three straight seasons and made it to the League Cup final in 2010.
Yet, O’Neill resigned before the 2010–11 season due to disagreements about spending. Villa struggled in the following years, with several managers unable to bring stability. In 2016, the club was relegated after 29 years in the top flight.
New owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens took over in 2018, giving the club fresh energy. Dean Smith became the manager and led Aston Villa back to the Premier League in 2019.
After surviving relegation in their first season back, the club began to improve. They sold their star player, Jack Grealish, to Manchester City in 2021 for a record £100 million.
Despite changes in management, including a stint with Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa found stability under Unai Emery in 2022. Villa finished seventh in the 2022–23 season, earning a spot in European competition.
In the 2023–24 season, Emery led them to the Europa Conference League semi-finals and a fourth-place finish in the Premier League, securing a spot in the Champions League for the first time in over 40 years.
Who Is The New Owner Of Aston Villa?
The new owners of Aston Villa Football Club are part of a sports company called V Sports, which acts as the parent organization of the club. V Sports is jointly owned by Nassef Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire, and Wesley Edens, an American billionaire.
They first acquired a majority share in Aston Villa in 2018, when the club was struggling in the Championship, England’s second division of football.
Their investment played a big part in bringing the team back to the Premier League in 2019. In 2019, they purchased full ownership of Aston Villa. V Sports does not only own Aston Villa.
It is a holding company that also manages other football-related investments and partnerships. For example, they own Aston Villa’s women’s team and a 29% stake in Vitória S.C., a football club in Portugal.
V Sports also collaborates with ZED FC, an Egyptian football club, and runs projects to develop young football talent in places like Senegal.
Through these partnerships, they aim to share resources like scouting, coaching techniques, and youth development programs.
The company was originally called NSWE, named after Nassef Sawiris and Wesley Edens, but it was rebranded as V Sports in 2021 to focus on its growing sports network.
The name “V Sports” is inspired by Aston Villa, which is seen as the flagship club in the group. Recently, V Sports has continued expanding its influence in football.
They have partnered with clubs like Vissel Kobe in Japan and Real Unión in Spain. These partnerships aim to develop young players and improve coaching methods.
Young players from these clubs sometimes train at Aston Villa’s facilities to gain experience in European football. This allows players and staff to exchange ideas and skills, helping all the clubs involved.
In 2023, the company took on a minority partner, Atairos, an American investment firm. Atairos now holds a 32% stake in V Sports, giving the company additional funding to grow its operations.
This partnership values V Sports at over £500 million and allows the group to invest in football and player development.
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How Much Is Aston Villa Owner Worth?
Nassef Sawiris, the owner of Aston Villa Football Club, is one of the richest people in the world. His net worth is estimated to be $7.9 billion as of December 13, 2024.
This makes him one of the wealthiest individuals in Egypt and one of the richest in Africa. Sawiris is known for being part of Egypt’s wealthiest family and for his business success across different industries.
He is involved in many businesses, including OCI, one of the largest producers of nitrogen fertilizers in the world. This company has factories in the United States and trades on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.
He also runs Orascom Construction, which is a big engineering and building company. It trades on the Cairo and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. Additionally, Sawiris owns nearly 6% of Adidas, the well-known German sportswear brand.
In 2020, Sawiris bought a 5% stake in Madison Square Garden Sports, the company that owns the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers.
He also teamed up with Wes Edens, a businessman from Fortress Investment Group, to purchase Aston Villa Football Club.
Kenneth is a an avid soccer follower, fan and writer. He is a consistent follower of the sport and is a fan of Chelsea FC.
