Superstars Redefining Football Ownership: Messi, Ronaldo, and More

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Luka Modrić, Vinícius Júnior, Thibaut Courtois. For two decades they have shaped the game on the pitch. Now they are quietly redrawing its map from the boardroom.

This is not a wave of vanity projects. It is a generation of superstars buying in – literally – to football’s future, from the fifth tier in Spain to promotion chasers in Wales and fallen giants in France.

Messi in Cornella: the king of Barcelona goes grassroots

In April, UE Cornella – a modest fifth-tier side tucked into the south-west of Barcelona – dropped a bombshell: Lionel Messi had completed a 100 percent takeover of the club.

The statement from Cornella framed it as a homecoming of sorts, saying the move “reinforces Messi’s close ties to Barcelona and his commitment to the development of sport and local talent in Catalonia – a connection rooted in his years at FC Barcelona and sustained ever since.” Messi then appeared via video to address players and staff, introducing himself as owner and backing their promotion push. They would fall short in the play-offs, but the message was clear: he is not just lending his name.

The impact off the pitch was instant. Cornella’s Instagram exploded into the hundreds of thousands of followers, a fifth-tier club suddenly thrust into the global spotlight. The footballing project will take time, but Messi walks into a club with a respected academy and a track record of producing talent. Jordi Alba came through Cornella. So did current Barça player Gerard Martin and Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya. This is not a vanity academy; it is a proven pipeline.

Cornella, founded in 1951, already had history – famously knocking Atlético Madrid out of the 2021 Copa del Rey. Now they have something else: the most famous owner on the planet, determined to pour investment into Catalan youth.

It is not Messi’s only venture. With Inter Miami team-mate Luis Suárez, he has also created Deportivo LSM, a new professional club in Uruguay’s fourth tier. For the man who defined an era at Camp Nou, the future now runs through small training pitches and youth dressing rooms.

Ronaldo’s Almería play: from Bernabéu legend to Segunda stake

Cristiano Ronaldo has long hinted he would rather own clubs than manage them. “If I can be a club owner, why would I be a manager, sporting director or CEO?” he said after turning 40, outlining his ambition to one day own “several” teams.

The first step arrived in February. Through his CR7 Sports Investments company, Ronaldo acquired a 25 percent stake in UD Almería, a Spanish Segunda club with serious ambitions. “It has been a long-held ambition of mine to contribute to football, beyond the pitch,” the Al-Nassr and Portugal forward said in a statement. “UD Almeria is a Spanish club with strong foundations and clear potential for growth.”

Almería’s majority ownership remains with a Saudi Arabian consortium led by Mohammed Al-Khereiji, who called Ronaldo “the greatest to ever play the game” and hailed his knowledge of Spanish football and its academy structures. That knowledge is deep: nine years at Real Madrid, two La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues and the club’s all-time scoring record.

Almería’s ceiling is obvious. They were in La Liga as recently as 2024 and came agonisingly close to going straight back up, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Málaga in the play-off final. Determined to avoid that lottery again, the club hired García Pimienta – a coach steeped in Barcelona’s La Masia – and brought in seven new signings with automatic promotion in 2026-27 the clear target.

Ronaldo, now 41, found himself in a surreal position in August. In Lisbon, he watched from the stands as Al-Nassr, his current club, lost 2-0 in a pre-season friendly to Almería, the team he now co-owns. The two sides of his football life met on the same pitch.

Vinícius and Alverca: a reborn club, a remote star

In Portugal, Vinícius Júnior chose a different route. In February 2025, the Real Madrid winger joined a group of investors to buy Alverca, taking between 70 and 80 percent of the club’s shares for around €10m.

The timing could hardly have been better. Three months later, Alverca sealed back-to-back promotions and returned to the top flight for the first time since 1998.

Their story is one of survival. Relegated from Liga Portugal, Alverca folded in 2005, reformed in 2006 and clawed their way up through the regional leagues. When the Vincintin family – who also own Santa Clara – were forced to sell due to league rules prohibiting ownership of two clubs, Vinícius and his partners moved.

He is not a hands-on owner. His agent, Thassilo Soares, is now the majority shareholder. “Our relationship with Vinícius is remote,” sporting director Fernando Malta told The Guardian, via Get French Football News. “We say he is the club’s most famous fan.”

Alverca’s Complexo Desportivo finally welcomed that “famous fan” early last season for a match against Benfica. The club went on to finish 10th in their first year back in the top division, helped by a staggering 35 signings. Malta is realistic. He does not expect Alverca to challenge Porto, Sporting CP or Benfica for titles.

“We are not a big club in terms of size, so we need to be creative in our scouting and use of data,” he said. “The club’s main objective is staying in the top division but the second is selling players.”

What Vinícius offers is magnetism. His presence alone makes Alverca a more attractive shop window. The club has leaned into that star power, bringing in Real Madrid team-mate Eduardo Camavinga and American rapper Travis Scott to help with communication and marketing. For a club that once disappeared, the spotlight is now firmly back on.

Mbappé and Caen: ambition, backlash and a harsh reality check

Kylian Mbappé’s ownership story has been far more turbulent.

In June 2024, his company Interconnected Ventures, via its investment arm Coalition Capital, completed a majority takeover of SM Caen. The France and Real Madrid forward, who almost joined Caen as a youth player in 2012 before choosing Monaco, reportedly invested €15m of his own money.

Caen’s official statement hailed “a significant step in the club’s strategic development” and said the deal reinforced its ambition to remain one of French football’s historic institutions. At the time, they were in Ligue 2 and chasing promotion.

The script unraveled quickly. Caen slid down the table, finishing the 2024-25 season in 18th and suffering relegation to the Championnat National, France’s third tier, for the first time in 41 years.

Supporters turned. Results dipped, popular coach Nicolas Seube was sacked, and a furious fanbase unfurled a banner that cut through the PR gloss: “SMC is not your toy.”

Mbappé, juggling life at Real Madrid with running a professional club, struggled to find balance. Yet he did not retreat entirely. Late last year he made a bold call, appointing former Arsenal and France defender Gaël Clichy as head coach. Clichy steadied the team, even if they fell short of the play-offs in May, and optimism has crept back in over a swift return to Ligue 2.

This summer, Mbappé also approved the arrival of ex-Caen and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Mathieu Bodmer as director of football. According to L’Équipe, the pair did not speak directly before the appointment – a detail that underlines the distance between superstar owner and day-to-day club life.

Caen’s story is a reminder: a famous name on the share register does not guarantee success. It can just as easily invite scrutiny.

Modrić at Swansea: a quiet education in South Wales

While Mbappé wrestled with crisis, Luka Modrić slipped into ownership with far less noise.

Shortly before closing the curtain on his 13 glittering years at Real Madrid last summer, Modrić became a minority investor and co-owner at Swansea City. In a press release that left many fans double-checking the club website, he said: “Hi Swansea fans, I’m Luka Modric and I’m excited to be part of the journey. My goal is to support the club’s growth in a positive way and to help to build an exciting future.”

For Swansea’s American owners – Andy Coleman, Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen – Modrić was the marquee partner they had long sought, inspired by the Wrexham boom under Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Modrić already knew Swansea from his Tottenham days, facing them home and away in 2010-11, and, as reported by The Guardian, saw the deal as a chance to learn the business side of the sport.

He has thrown himself into that education. Modrić has worked to understand Swansea’s growth strategy and has even volunteered to speak directly to transfer targets. For now, he remains in the background at the Swansea.com Stadium while he continues his playing career at AC Milan in Serie A. That will not last forever. When he retires, his role is expected to grow.

The club’s pull has already changed. Snoop Dogg joined as an investor a couple of months after Modrić, with Martha Stewart following in December. “It puts us in a different league in terms of some of the things that we are able to do,” chief executive Tom Gorringe said.

The football objective is simple: get back to the Premier League after nine years away. Swansea missed the Championship play-offs by nine points in 2025-26. As the new season begins, having a Ballon d’Or winner on the end of the phone is a powerful selling point.

Courtois and the multi-club vision

Thibaut Courtois may be the most strategic of them all.

At 34, still one of the world’s best goalkeepers and Real Madrid’s No.1, he has already invested in three clubs this year. The moves are not random. They look like the early pieces of a multi-club puzzle.

In February, Courtois joined an all-star ownership group at Le Mans, a French side that already counted Novak Djokovic and Felipe Massa among its backers. He invested via NxtPlay Capital, the company he co-founded with Gonzalo Vilar. Le Mans have since celebrated a return to Ligue 1 for the first time since 2010.

Three months later, Courtois and NxtPlay became co-owners of CD Extremadura. The Spanish club has rocketed up the pyramid with four straight promotions since 2022, climbing into the Primera Federación, Spain’s third tier. It is a classic growth play: a club on the rise, hungry for structure and capital.

Then came the emotional move. On June 1, KRC Genk announced Courtois’ return as a minority investor. This is where his professional story began. Now, after the club’s transition into a limited liability company, he has become Genk’s first ever external corporate shareholder.

“I have pursued excellence all my life. At KRC Genk, I feel that same fire and ambition,” Courtois told the club website. “This investment truly feels like coming home. Through this commitment, I want to help the club continue to grow and strengthen its sporting ambitions. From Limburg to the top of Europe.”

NxtPlay now sits on Genk’s board, with Vilar handling the role while Courtois focuses on his career in Madrid. Even so, the goalkeeper is heavily involved in shaping the club’s commercial strategy. The pattern is clear: clubs with room to grow, strong academies or fanbases, and the potential to be part of a wider network.

City Football Group, Red Bull and BlueCo have already shown what a multi-club model can become. Courtois is openly aiming in that direction.

The new power game

From Cornella’s training ground to Caen’s protests, from Alverca’s rebirth to Almería’s promotion charge, football is watching a shift in power.

The superstars who once only signed contracts now sign ownership papers. Some are learning hard lessons. Some are quietly building empires. All of them are changing what it means to be a footballer in the 21st century.

The question now is not whether players will own clubs. It is which of them will still be shaping the game long after they have left the pitch.