For the first time ever, a prominent men’s soccer player is investing in a major way in the women’s game.
Mercury/13, the multi-club ownership group focusing specifically on women’s teams, is today set to announce a sizeable investment from former Italian international Giorgio Chiellini, as the group looks to expand its stable of clubs, Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) has learned.
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Mercury/13 currently only has one team in that portfolio – Como Women, of Italian women’s soccer’s top-tier Serie A Femminile.
However, the group is on the lookout to expand that stable – primarily in Europe, with South America also an area of interest. At the moment, despite women’s soccer’s popularity in the US continuing to rise, that area is not being considered, it is understood.
Chiellini first met Mercury/13’s co-chief executive, Victoire Cogevina, in February, around their joint involvement in the Common Goal charitable movement involving several top-tier footballers. Discussions around the former Italy icon making an investment in the MCO are understood to have progressed since then.
Chiellini is currently the head of football institutional relations at Juventus, the Italian soccer giants where he played for 17 years.
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By GlobalDataWhile Como (currently sitting fifth in the 10-team Serie A Femminile) are currently the only club run by Mercury/13, Chiellini’s involvement will stretch across all that group’s activities when it adds more teams to its portfolio, it is understood.
He has now said: “After spending time in the US, I saw the incredible strides women’s football is making there and how much potential it still has to unlock in Europe. That experience inspired me, and I’m proud to be part of a project that’s all about creating new opportunities for female athletes and taking the sport to the next level internationally.”
Reynal, formerly the founder of the Gloria soccer-centric social network, added: “His commitment reflects the increasing recognition and support for women’s football at the highest levels. Mercury/13’s strategy of acquiring teams across European leagues will amplify our impact, and Giorgio’s involvement is a powerful endorsement of our vision and strategy.”
When it launched in early 2023, Mercury/13 announced its intention to – eventually – spend $100 million in buying up women’s soccer clubs from Europe and Latin America.
It is understood that Mercury/13 would like to own one club from each of the main four women’s leagues across Europe, as a final point.
Mercury 13 had initially planned to make Lewes, a club competing in the second tier of the English women’s soccer pyramid, their opening club purchase, late last year. However, talks came to an amicable halt in November over Mercury 13’s plans to only invest in the women’s side – Lewes also has a non-league men’s team at the club.
The group is backed by former England international Eniola Aluko, former FIFA chief innovation officer Luis Vicente, and prominent UK businessman Sir Martin Broughton, among others.
In unveiling the Como deal, Mercury 13 pointed to research carried out by the FIGC Italian soccer body claiming that the current commercial value of the women’s game is expected to reach €46.7 million ($50.7 million) by 2033.
