Private Equity Group CVC In Talks With Fifa And Real Madrid To Set Up A Rival World Cup Club Football Competition 

Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is in negotiations with Fifa and Real Madrid about investing in two competing versions of a world club football championship, Financial Times reported.

CVC is reportedely in talks with Fifa for acquiring the commercial rights for the confederation’s Club World Cup, which is expanding to a 24-team tournament from 2021. Fifa will launch announce a tender process for the commercial rights in the coming days.

In October, Fifa announced that the current eight-team Club World Club would be replaced by a 24-team contest featuring at least eight European teams and taking place every four years. China is set to host the first expanded tournament in mid-2021.

According to the FT report, CVC has also been approached by Spain’s Real Madrid, the world’s richest football club by revenues, about creating a new club league contest.

The proposed competition format envisaged by Real Madrid comprises of two leagues of 20 teams each. The teams are likely to be drawn from the World Football Club Association formed last month and led by Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

The WFCA has eight ‘founding clubs’: Real Madrid, AC Milan, Auckland City (New Zealand), Boca Juniors, River Plate, America (Mexico), Guangzhou (China), and Mazembe (Congo).

Last week, US private equity firm Silver Lake announced that it is investing $500 million in the holding company of English football clun Manchester City, a deal that values the soccer group at nearly $5 billion. As per the terms of the deal, Silver Lake will buy just over 10% of City Football Group, which is controlled by United Arab Emirates royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.