V Sport Investments Ltd - More Villa Clubs around the world?

[MotoMkali]

6 hours ago, HalfTimePost said:

So the kid above is signing for Vitoria from Zed and has an option to move to Villa in the terms (all allegedly, according to this random on Twitter, but a little too specific for a kid in Egypt imo)

 

Feyenoord have had financial difficulties in recent years, panathinaikos' owner has been trying to sell the club since 2017. Seems like potentially other clubs we are considering partnerships with. 

It would probably be a big boon to all the clubs in a network like this to have the ability to show a pathway to higher levels. Or the ability to loan out players to the other clubs if they play in a position where you have depth. A midfield prospect might look at our midfield with Luiz, Kamara, the ramsey brothers and Iroegbunam coming through and think I could get more game time if I went somewhere else. But it'd be a lot easier for us to go well you can get development time with Feyenoord as their current crop of midfielders is weak. Or soemthing to that effect. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by MotoMkali

[villa4europe]

You could probably reword if villa fancy him to should he qualify for a work permit in the future 

Hopefully works for all 3 clubs and obviously the kid himself 

[thejoker]

I’m not really sure what the Egyptian team are getting out of this. They just seem to be getting their good prospects poached. 

[Don_Simon]

1 minute ago, thejoker said:

I’m not really sure what the Egyptian team are getting out of this. They just seem to be getting their good prospects poached. 

Aren't they getting the players from other African nations? I saw Senegal mentioned in reports. (At some point in this chain, someone is getting shafted). 

[wishywashy]

1 hour ago, thejoker said:

I’m not really sure what the Egyptian team are getting out of this. They just seem to be getting their good prospects poached. 

A clear, established pathway for prospective academy members to a team regularly in Europe and a Premier League club, Prem-level support in terms of coaching and recruitment, and likely some £££ (and a fairly reliable revenue stream from more consistent player movement) on top.

If you've got players that are good enough to go into Vitoria and Villa's youth setups, they're more than likely going to end up getting poached regardless. At least with a formal partnership you're not going to get shafted by a club trying to take the mick. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by wishywashy

[MotoMkali]

23 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

A clear, established pathway for prospective academy members to a team regularly in Europe and a Premier League club, Prem-level support in terms of coaching and recruitment, and likely a fair amount of £££ on top.

If you've got players that are good enough to go into Vitoria and Villa's youth setups, they're more than likely going to end up getting poached regardless. At least with a formal partnership you're not going to get shafted by a club trying to take the mick. 

Yep exactly it's a massive carrot in terms of the recruiting pitch. Why go to another academy that won't showcase you in front of top scouts. Why go to another academy that doesn't have ins with a premier league team. 

[useless]

I watched Omar Khedr against our U16s he and Luka Lynch were the best players on the pitch, if that was an indication of his quality and from what I've read it was, then he would have left them anyway. I'm not sure what the exact link up with Zed is but I imagine they will get investment from us so they themselve can invest in more players for their academy and we might let them have some of our players, maybe we're going to invest in their infrastructure as well, also I think I read that we now own the biggest academy in Senegal, so maybe we can also help them via that.

[Alakagom]

3 hours ago, thejoker said:

I’m not really sure what the Egyptian team are getting out of this. They just seem to be getting their good prospects poached. 

Here is Egyptian Al-Ahly fan giving more info about ZED. It's basically a political tool it seems mostly.

 

actually Zed is a really messy and complicated thing. it's not made up. they're co-owned by one of the Sawiris guys who also happens to be a part owner of aston villa so I was expecting this to happen. they started their club right after the pandemic (~2021) and it's in the second division, but a good amount of the young players they have are failed nepotism babies that are trying for a second shot & hoping for a transfer to one of the bigger clubs (ahly, zamalek, pyramids, future).

this whole thing started when the Sawiris people bought a big plot of land in cairo and turned it into a whole mix of things, like it's a lot of overpriced apartment buildings & gated villas, while also having a business park & a big leisure space where people would celebrate stuff like christmas, easter, eid, ramadan, etc.

one of the guys in charge of Zed's football team is Seif Zaher, who basically runs the media in egyptian football (but not many people pay attention to him because we mainly watch bein sports) and this is kind of a big deal because it means Sawiris gave him so much power when everyone around him is appointed by the government/military.

Sisi & his buddies are close to the Sawirises and to them this is a really good opportunity.

Our second division is divided into 3 groups and each group gets 1 promotion spot. in their group, Zed is currently 1st place and they're ahead by 1 point. they can get promoted this year but it won't be easy. they want to be seen as a real football club but they're just not taken seriously like the others. no matter how much funding they have they just won't get close to competing with ahly or zamalek. ahly's wage bill is close to ~650 million egyptian pounds per year, and these figures are before the recent inflation that happened this month.

i'd be surprised if Zed produce anyone good enough for aston villa to take because corruption runs like crazy in egyptian academies no matter what club it is. all the coaches are severely underpaid so they resort to taking bribes from parents who want their kids to become football players no matter what. this is one of the reasons why our national team will struggle massively in the next few years. our lack of good academy players is why we resort to scouting maghrebi players.

basically Zed want to be a football club and have a billionaire pump money into them but they didn't want to be like pyramids. pyramids were bought by one of mohamed bin salman's best friends and they threw money at all of ahly and zamalek's best players to create their own flashy team, it ruined our market and it's made it so overinflated now. after pyramids' saudi owner came in and ruined our league and transfer market, the government came up with some new policies, so this is why Zed went down this route. we don't have any other corporate-owned clubs in egypt. the two big ones are fan-owned, pyramids is private-owned, and the other big one, future, is owned by the military. the majority of the other clubs are fan owned. zed is the only corporate-owned club we have.

[duke313]

1 hour ago, useless said:

I watched Omar Khedr against our U16s he and Luka Lynch were the best players on the pitch, if that was an indication of his quality and from what I've read it was, then he would have left them anyway. I'm not sure what the exact link up with Zed is but I imagine they will get investment from us so they themselve can invest in more players for their academy and we might let them have some of our players, maybe we're going to invest in their infrastructure as well, also I think I read that we now own the biggest academy in Senegal, so maybe we can also help them via that.

Academy in Egypt and one in Senegal, we’re definitely trying to find the next Salah and Mane aren’t we?

[MotoMkali]

15 hours ago, Alakagom said:

Here is Egyptian Al-Ahly fan giving more info about ZED. It's basically a political tool it seems mostly.

 

actually Zed is a really messy and complicated thing. it's not made up. they're co-owned by one of the Sawiris guys who also happens to be a part owner of aston villa so I was expecting this to happen. they started their club right after the pandemic (~2021) and it's in the second division, but a good amount of the young players they have are failed nepotism babies that are trying for a second shot & hoping for a transfer to one of the bigger clubs (ahly, zamalek, pyramids, future).

this whole thing started when the Sawiris people bought a big plot of land in cairo and turned it into a whole mix of things, like it's a lot of overpriced apartment buildings & gated villas, while also having a business park & a big leisure space where people would celebrate stuff like christmas, easter, eid, ramadan, etc.

one of the guys in charge of Zed's football team is Seif Zaher, who basically runs the media in egyptian football (but not many people pay attention to him because we mainly watch bein sports) and this is kind of a big deal because it means Sawiris gave him so much power when everyone around him is appointed by the government/military.

Sisi & his buddies are close to the Sawirises and to them this is a really good opportunity.

Our second division is divided into 3 groups and each group gets 1 promotion spot. in their group, Zed is currently 1st place and they're ahead by 1 point. they can get promoted this year but it won't be easy. they want to be seen as a real football club but they're just not taken seriously like the others. no matter how much funding they have they just won't get close to competing with ahly or zamalek. ahly's wage bill is close to ~650 million egyptian pounds per year, and these figures are before the recent inflation that happened this month.

i'd be surprised if Zed produce anyone good enough for aston villa to take because corruption runs like crazy in egyptian academies no matter what club it is. all the coaches are severely underpaid so they resort to taking bribes from parents who want their kids to become football players no matter what. this is one of the reasons why our national team will struggle massively in the next few years. our lack of good academy players is why we resort to scouting maghrebi players.

basically Zed want to be a football club and have a billionaire pump money into them but they didn't want to be like pyramids. pyramids were bought by one of mohamed bin salman's best friends and they threw money at all of ahly and zamalek's best players to create their own flashy team, it ruined our market and it's made it so overinflated now. after pyramids' saudi owner came in and ruined our league and transfer market, the government came up with some new policies, so this is why Zed went down this route. we don't have any other corporate-owned clubs in egypt. the two big ones are fan-owned, pyramids is private-owned, and the other big one, future, is owned by the military. the majority of the other clubs are fan owned. zed is the only corporate-owned club we have.

I read this as well. But to me this just seems like if someone comes in and runs their academy seriously they are going to have access to a largely untapped pool of potential 109 million citizens strong. 

[wishywashy]

https://vitoriasc.pt/2023/04/14/alteracao-estatutaria-segue-se-ao-acordo-ja-fechado-com-o-v-sports/

Quote

Approved by a large majority (with 966 votes in favor and 136 against), in an extraordinary general meeting held on the 3rd of March, the sale of 46% of SAD shares to the V Sports fund for 5.5 million euros, with the Vitória Sport Clube remaining the majority shareholder, the club closed the agreement with the new partner within the estimated period. Within the scope of this operation, Vitória SC finalized the acquisition process of the shares that were still held by Mário Andrade Ferreira, Sociedade de Investimentos (MAF).

The agreement has now been completed and the 46% of shares transferred to V Sports (the 14th April was the deadline for this, according to what was said during their general meeting to vote on it last month). All they have to do now is make some changes to their articles of association: just formalities, presumably.

[wishywashy]

2 hours ago, wishywashy said:

https://vitoriasc.pt/2023/04/14/alteracao-estatutaria-segue-se-ao-acordo-ja-fechado-com-o-v-sports/

The agreement has now been completed and the 46% of shares transferred to V Sports (the 14th April was the deadline for this, according to what was said during their general meeting to vote on it last month). All they have to do now is make some changes to their articles of association: just formalities, presumably.

Just had a scroll through the proposed amendments: essentially just making it so any 'big' decisions affecting Vitoria (mostly financial stuff really) require 60% of the share capital vote. Pretty standard.

[VillaJ100]

I didn't realise Emery owns Real Union in Spain, how he has the time to run them I have no idea but they are one of Spain's most historic teams, won the Copa Del Rey a few times in the early 1900's and founder members of La Liga. Currently in the 4th tier I think

[spiezels]

12 hours ago, VillaJ100 said:

I didn't realise Emery owns Real Union in Spain, how he has the time to run them I have no idea but they are one of Spain's most historic teams, won the Copa Del Rey a few times in the early 1900's and founder members of La Liga. Currently in the 4th tier I think

Can’t wait till we have a bad run of form and people start blaming it on the fact Emery must be spending too much time thinking about the club be owns.

[NeilS]

It looks like there could be bad news for our owners efforts to set up a MLS franchise. Us Villa fans may have to put on hold those pre-season tours to Las Vegas.

The talk a few years ago, was that Las Vegas would not be sustainable place to inhabit in a few years. I think from the documentry I watched that Las Vegas would run out of water to sustain the population, so this may be a blessing in disguise unless those threats have been dealt with in the mean time?

Taken from The Villa Notebook on Birmingham Live

 

SETBACK FOR LAS VEGAS VILLAINS

Staying in the States and an investment group in San Diego are now in pole position to race ahead of Sawiris’ and Edens’ ambitious Las Vegas Villains project to become the MLS’ 30th franchise in 2025.

It’s been reported that a $500m deal has been struck with the new side to play at the 35,000-capacity Snapdragon Stadium just north of the Mexican border in San Diego. An announcement is expected within the next two weeks.

As for Edens’ and Sawiris’ vision to expand their V Sports portfolio into the MLS, plans have failed to progress despite an 110-acre plot near the famous Las Vegas Strip being identified as a future home for Las Vegas Villains.

Speaking previously, Edens told the Review-Journal: “It takes a couple of years to build a stadium if you’re all set to go. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get to that place but we are very eager to start as soon as we can.”

[KMitch]

1 hour ago, NeilS said:

It looks like there could be bad news for our owners efforts to set up a MLS franchise. Us Villa fans may have to put on hold those pre-season tours to Las Vegas.

The talk a few years ago, was that Las Vegas would not be sustainable place to inhabit in a few years. I think from the documentry I watched that Las Vegas would run out of water to sustain the population, so this may be a blessing in disguise unless those threats have been dealt with in the mean time?

Taken from The Villa Notebook on Birmingham Live

 

SETBACK FOR LAS VEGAS VILLAINS

Staying in the States and an investment group in San Diego are now in pole position to race ahead of Sawiris’ and Edens’ ambitious Las Vegas Villains project to become the MLS’ 30th franchise in 2025.

It’s been reported that a $500m deal has been struck with the new side to play at the 35,000-capacity Snapdragon Stadium just north of the Mexican border in San Diego. An announcement is expected within the next two weeks.

As for Edens’ and Sawiris’ vision to expand their V Sports portfolio into the MLS, plans have failed to progress despite an 110-acre plot near the famous Las Vegas Strip being identified as a future home for Las Vegas Villains.

Speaking previously, Edens told the Review-Journal: “It takes a couple of years to build a stadium if you’re all set to go. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get to that place but we are very eager to start as soon as we can.”

Doesn't really mean anything, TBH...  Pretty sure MLS will keep growing over the years to 40 teams and have two 20 team conferences.  There are plenty of large US cities left that don't have MLS teams yet.  

 

[MrBlack]

24 minutes ago, KMitch said:

Doesn't really mean anything, TBH...  Pretty sure MLS will keep growing over the years to 40 teams and have two 20 team conferences.  There are plenty of large US cities left that don't have MLS teams yet.  

 

Wonder if they'd then run it like the NFL and have two separate conferences split by geographic proximity rather than a tiered league system? 

Promotion and relegation between just two leagues doesn't really have that much going for it,  but a post season playoff could rake in extra millions

[KMitch]

3 hours ago, MrBlack said:

Wonder if they'd then run it like the NFL and have two separate conferences split by geographic proximity rather than a tiered league system? 

Promotion and relegation between just two leagues doesn't really have that much going for it,  but a post season playoff could rake in extra millions

They already do that...

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, KMitch said:

They already do that...

Oh... . I don't follow MLS ... 

[Villaphan04]

the links to Ugarte make me think that the Vitória Guimarães link will be the V-Sport team getting very promising & high potential South Americans to Europe where it won't be possible to get them in Villa with the work permit rules. That is pretty much what Ugarte did, signed directly from Fénix in the Uruguayan top division for Famalicão.