FootBiz newsletter #82: French league consider playoffs to nerf PSG's dominance

There’s a lot happening in the women’s game at the moment and so it’s probably fitting that it pops up so much in today’s newsletter.

Of course, the numbers involved remain a lot smaller than those in the men’s game but the growth and the new revenue pouring in are attractive to investors, particularly at a time when men’s broadcast rights are levelling off, and it all comes at a lower price point.

In a job a few years ago, for fairly inexplicable reasons, I was at the Cannes Lions festival and ended up on a boat listening to a talk from Alexis Ohanian and a few others, organised and moderated by Laura Correnti, discussing the business of women’s sports.

Ohanian made as compelling and impassioned a case for the entire sector being undervalued as I’ve ever heard. And he has put his money where his mouth is in his investments.

In short, he believes the business of women’s sports has not yet caught up with its cultural and commercial potential. Perhaps more importantly, the lightweight governance often means new things can be tried and there are fewer traditionalists and less red tape to navigate - often barriers to progress in men’s sports.

“The silver lining of women’s sports being so underinvested was that they were so easy to invest in,” Ohanian has said.

“You can try anything you want. There is no way that things have been done before.”

It will be interesting to hear his justification for the £200m valuation of Chelsea’s women’s team, considering it represents an enormous revenue multiple, but you can infer that he believes this will be the first women’s team with a £1bn valuation.

Of all the investors Chelsea could have welcomed in, it’s hard to think of many more interesting than Ohanian.

Table of Contents

• French ‘Premier League’ update

• WSL rebrand hit by Blackburn, Wolves news

• Goodison as a test for Doucet/WSL, not just Everto …

• M&A Murmurs - women’s football edition

• Davide steps out from the shadow?

• Rise from the ashes

• Talk is cheap but Wirtz are expensive

• Clear eyes, full Hearts

• Reading takeover officially official

• Villa hire new CEO

French ‘Premier League’ update

The restructuring of French football to try and pick up the pieces of their shattered media deals is taking something of an interesting turn.

Support for the new era (which wouldn’t start until Q3 2026) seems to be fairly broad based on the “it can’t be any worse than this” principle and the possibility of building something new from scratch throws up a lot of different opportunities.

One of those is the potential introduction of a playoff system to determine the champion of the league, per

While any playoff system is thought of as an American format, we are increasingly seeing it in European football. The Belgian and Greek leagues are among those who decide their champions, European places and relegated clubs this way.

And it would be a novel way to address one of Ligue 1’s biggest problems: PSG’s absurd financial dominance.

Their financial dominance has been reflected in titles, with PSG winning 10 of the last 12 and they probably should have won more than that.

With everything on the table and clubs able to propose ideas that could feature in their bright(?) new future, a playoff system to re-introduce some competitive variance and jeopardy would appear to be of obvious benefit to a league that has become one of the most predictable in Europe.

Other suggestions being mooted in the committees — the key committee is being chaired by Toulouse’s Damien Comolli — include the return of France’s League Cup (though only for teams not playing in Europe), new (stricter) financial controls, multi-club ownership regulations and more.

President of the French football federation (FFF) Philippe Diallo said this week of the new ideas being floated that “we are not in cosmetics, but in an innovative project.”

Let’s see how innovative they get.

While the reforms a la anglaise are projected to come into force just over a year from now, the league’s media arm is currently trying to stand up its own broadcasting business in under three months after DAZN pulled out of their multi-year contract after just one season.

DAZN are keen to stay on as the league’s partner, providing much of the production services that will be needed, but they have stiff competition from some of the continent’s biggest broadcasters.

And now Amazon have joined the race too. The e-commerce giant decided against bidding when their brief contract to broadcast the league expired last summer, but maintained good relations and are unsurprisingly much more interested in getting into business with the league if there isn’t a nine-figure sum to pay.

Seeing the opportunity for professionalisation of their own, France’s top-tier women’s competition wants to follow Ligue 1 in creating a new commercial structure.

Given that L’Equipe keep referring to this reform as being ‘English-style’, it is fitting that the Première Ligue wants in.

The FFF hopes to include reforms for women’s football in the senate bill that will go before French lawmakers and there is talk of the federation investing €70m over five years to strengthen the league as it grows and becomes financially self-sustained.

WSL rebrand hit by Blackburn, Wolves news

A week which began with Nikki Doucet, chief executive of the company that runs the women’s professional game in the UK, telling attendees at their first-ever annual awards night, “women’s football is a movement as much as a sport,” things have certainly been moving all over the place.  

On the upside and in a fairly significant move, Everton’s owners, The Friedkin Group, have made a major commitment to the sport by announcing that the club’s women’s team will play their matches at Goodison Park next season, meaning the men’s game against Southampton on Sunday will not be the last to take place at the iconic stadium. Everton’s previous owner, Farhad Moshiri, had intended to bulldoze the 133-year-old ground to make way for a property development project so the change of plan has been hailed by the club’s fan-base, as well as women’s football supporters more broadly.

A less positive development came in the news, first reported in The Guardian on Tuesday, that Championship club Blackburn are likely to withdraw from the new WSL2 next season after their owners failed to provide financial commitments needed to meet the division’s new minimum license requirement. The timing was particularly unfortunate, as the previous day Doucet had announced a rebrand of the top two divisions as WSL1 and WSL2 from next season, creating the possibility that the second tier could again comprise just 11 teams after Reading withdrew from this season’s Championship due to financial problems last June.

Blackburn, who played all of their home games matches at Ewood Park this season and include current England internationals Georgia Stanway, Ella Toone and Keira Walsh among recent former players, have been given a deadline of next Monday to make a final decision. Rovers players were stunned by the news, despite the constant feeling that the club has never financially backed them. Many are now worried for their futures.

If they withdraw, Blackburn would not be the only club to decide not to fund a WSL2 license this summer, as third-tier Wolves did not submit a bid for promotion despite finishing second in their division. Earlier this week the Wolves chairman, Jeff Shi, promised to apply for promotion next season after anger internally at his decision.

Goodison as a test for Doucet/WSL, not just Everton

Even the Goodison Park development is more nuanced that it appears, given the huge disconnect between the owners’ ambition and the reality of the current situation. While capacity will be dramatically reduced from 39,000 by removing the top tier even the proposed new range of between 20,000 and 25,000 will be a test of the existing fan-base, with Everton’s home gate dropping to an average of 1,256 at Walton Hall Park this season.

Attendances across the WSL were down by nine per cent this season, and with Chelsea’s dominance continuing with their sixth successive title, the competition needs England’s Lionesses to have a successful European Championship this summer to spark more interest and kick on to the next level. As defending champions, the bar is extremely high, not helped by the fact they have been drawn in a difficult group with France, Holland and Wales.

The impressive Doucet has accomplished a lot in just 12 months running the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, including securing £110m in revenue from new deals with Sky Sports and Barclays and beginning difficult negotiations with the clubs about restructuring. At this point she could really do with some help from the more parsimonious club owners, and the Lionesses.

M&A Murmurs - women’s football edition

Two-time World Cup winner Alex Morgan announced that she has bought a stake in her former club, San Diego Wave FC.

The NWSL franchise are owned by the Levine Leichtman family, who paid $113m to take 100 per cent control from former owner Ron Burkle last year.

Wave FC declined to disclose the exact size of Morgan’s stake or the cost of her investment, but following last year’s takeover, NWSL valuations show no sign of falling. Angel City are valued at $250m following last year’s purchase by Walt Disney chief executive Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, while the average across the league is $104m.

Chelsea had been seeking an investor who would help them establish their £200m valuation (following last year’s sale to sister company BlueCo22) as being of fair market value and it looks like they have found one in the shape of Alexis Ohanian.

Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and of venture capital fund 776, is an über-bull on women’s sports and has invested in Angel City (founded for $1m, though has now sold his controlling stake at a $250m valuation), Athlos Sports (a track & field league for women athletes) and a chain of sports bars. His wife also happens to be one of the greatest female athletes in history, Serena Williams. In other sports investments, Ohanian is the majority owner of LA Golf Club in the TGL, the technology-based golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

He explains his investment thesis on women’s sports fairly succinctly here, if you’re interested.

According to The Times, Ohanian is buying around 10% of Chelsea’s women’s team for £20m. It would make Chelsea the most valuable women’s team in the world, pretty close to Angel City (where he remains on the board) and will help Chelsea justify their internal sale price, given he is a high-profile and respected investor.

Word is that Ohanian has been sniffing around other European clubs too, though it is uncertain if that was an alternative to Chelsea or if he plans to take pieces of multiple teams to profit from the growth of the wider ecosystem. What is certain is that he and his family will be at the women’s FA Cup final this weekend where Chelsea are big favourites to lift another trophy.

Davide steps out from the shadow?

Davide Ancelotti is not expected to join his father, Carlo, at Brazil as he searches for his first job as a number one. However, Globo in Brazil reports that the Italian could join the Brazilian coaching staff if he is unsuccessful in landing one of the many upcoming vacancies in European football that he has put himself in the running for.

The 35-year-old is assistant manager at Real Madrid until Monday, when he will leave the club alongside his father.

Davide benefits from his father’s connections in the game and his long-established PR machine, which has seen him get an interview with 49ers chiefs over the vacancy at Rangers as well as the potential (though now not) vacancy at Leeds United.

Como were also linked with Ancelotti but our understanding is Cesc Fabregas will be staying with the Serie A club after turning down Bayer Leverkusen.

Rise from the ashes

Dan Ashworth has been appointed as the Football Association's (FA) first-ever Chief Football Officer, a newly established role that grants him strategic oversight across England's men's and women's national teams. In this capacity, he will lead the FA's high-performance strategy, focusing on developing successful national teams and increasing the number of homegrown coaches.

A key aspect of Ashworth's responsibilities includes overseeing the regeneration of St. George’s Park, the FA's national football center. This project aims to upgrade the facility's performance amenities and pitches in preparation for England's role as a co-host of UEFA Euro 2028.

Ashworth brings a wealth of experience to this role, having previously served as the FA’s Director of Elite Development and Technical Director from 2013 to 2019. He has also held technical and sporting director positions at Premier League clubs, including West Bromwich Albion, Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United, and most recently, Manchester United. Ashworth was sacked after just a few months at United after Sir Jim Ratcliffe realised that he had hired a structural sporting director who focuses on pathways and high performance rather than a straight recruiter. Ratcliffe also privately told friends that he didn’t feel Ashworth had the ‘killer’ in him.

In his new position, Ashworth will collaborate closely with Men's Technical Director John McDermott and the successor to Kay Cossington in the Women's Technical Directorate, reporting directly to FA CEO Mark Bullingham.

Talk is cheap but Wirtz are expensive

Bayer Leverkusen’s dream scenario of an auction for Florian Wirtz could come to pass.

The Athletic report that Liverpool have made contact, just after Wirtz reportedly softened on his commitment to join FC Bayern amid Manchester City’s interest (and a personal intervention from Pep Guardiola).

This deal is looking a lot more interesting than it did a week ago.

Xabi Alonso heading from Bayer Leverkusen to Real Madrid should be announced fairly shortly, and the club is working on securing Dean Huijsen to join him.

The Bournemouth defender has a £50m release clause which several teams are willing to trigger, but the understanding is that Huijsen, who was brought up in Spain and plays for the national team, would pick a move to Madrid over Premier League alternatives.

Money can change that view, of course, but it seems to be headed that way and the deal is expected to be done before the Club World Cup.

Clear eyes, full Hearts

Hearts are going to be the team to watch in Scotland after inking their deal with Jamestown Analytics and as Tony Bloom awaits approval for a minority investment into the club.

All eyes will be on their summer recruitment, powered by the data model that has fuelled success at Brighton, Union Saint-Gilloise, Como and others, but the imminent hire of Derek McInnes is not insignificant.

With JTA having put forward the Kilmarnock manager as a candidate twice, once when the club instead opted to give Neil Critchley the job and then again last month when Critchley was sacked, we are going to see a much more data-fuelled Hearts side.

The question on everyone’s lips is whether they can disrupt the Old Firm.

Reading takeover officially official

Reading’s takeover by Rob Couhig and Todd Trosclair is now finally final and officially official.

“[Reading FC] are pleased to announce that Redwood Holdings Limited – a subsidiary company of Dogwood LLC, owned by Rob Couhig and Todd Trosclair of New Orleans, Louisiana – has completed the acquisition of 100% of the shareholding in Reading Football Club.

“The takeover, which has received EFL clearance, completed very early on Wednesday morning and includes the Select Car Leasing Stadium and Bearwood Park Training Ground.

“Both Couhig and Trosclair will join the club’s board with immediate effect, with Rob Couhig being named as Chairman.”

And in one final parting shot at Dai Yongge, whose disastrous ownership nearly sent the club into administration, they added:

“Redwood is ambitious and dedicated towards the club returning to its rightful place within the English football pyramid, while adhering to clear principles of honesty , transparency, and financial sustainability.

“Further communication from Redwood will follow in due course.”

Couhig did a decent job at Wycombe Wanderers, which he owned from 2019-2024. Wycombe were promoted to the Championship for the first time in their history, though quickly suffered relegation.

The job on his hands at Reading is very different. The Royals are one of — if not the — biggest club in League One and have recently enjoyed extended stretches in the Premier League. The first task, however, is restocking a bare-bones squad full of youngsters and rejects to mount a promotion push.

Head coach Noel Hunt did a fantastic job of galvanising a young squad after Ruben Selles left for Hull halfway through the season, and with Hunt a Reading legend from his time as a player you’d expect he gets afforded the opportunity to go hard at a playoff push next season after falling only narrowly short last month.

The financial picture remains pretty bleak though, with a wage:turnover ratio of 140% and losses of nearly £40m over the past couple of years. Promotion is, realistically, the only way out of those difficulties, though it will not be the cure of all their financial woes.

But Couhig and Trosclair are under no illusions about the scale of the job ahead, they know the club is in a dire situation but within those struggles they saw an opportunity. Reading’s new chapter starts today but the road to recovery is still pretty long.

Villa hire new CEO

Aston Villa are set to appoint Francesco Calvo as the club’s new President of Business – de facto chief executive – according to Sky Sports Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio.

Calvo resigned as Juventus’ managing director earlier this week to move to Villa Park in place of Chris Heck, who left following a turbulent two years at the club last month. The Italian has an impressive and varied CV, having previously worked as commercial director at Barcelona and revenue director at AS Roma.

Villa luring away such a senior executive from Juve is indicative of the Premier League’s financial strength, though if Villa can win their final two games of the season against permafucked duo Manchester United and Tottenham then they will likely be a Champions League club once again next season.