Re-Conceptualising Multi-Club Ownership in Football; A New Definition and Typology of MCO

Unlike our traditionally perceived ownership structures of football clubs, mainly capturing wealthy individuals and organizations, as well as supporter groups, multi-club ownership (MCO) has emerged rapidly in global football to refer to a relatively new phenomenon of different forms of ownership. This rapidly growing phenomenon has taken modern-day football by storm, manifesting in new and differing forms of majority and minority ownership, investment, and control of football clubs. In this chapter, we aim to analyse this phenomenon and offer a better encompassing definition and an explicatory typology of MCO manifestations in football clubs worldwide.