On a March morning on the shores of Lake Como, a piece of history was made. Mercury/13, a new ownership consortium that focuses purely on women’s football, acquired its first club – FC Como Women, from Serie A Femminile.
Mercury/13, founded by Victoire Cogevina Reynal, has pledged $100m (£85.5m) to building up a portfolio of teams across the globe, a “pure play” investor that unlocks clubs’ commercial potential. Reynal and her co-CEO, Mario Malavé, have brought notable figures on board, including the former England international Eni Aluko and Women in Football’s Ebru Koksal.
“The aim that we’ve had since day one was to rethink football ownership,” Cogevina Reynal tells Moving the Goalposts. “Women’s football gives this opportunity to build a business from the ground up, having had a predecessor in the men’s game that has been very successful but which has also done some things not in the right way. How can we learn and improve the model? Outside of being investors and operators, it is really about building a sustainable business model so they can become truly independent.”
Como was a perfect fit for its inaugural investment. “Como came to the top of the list very fast for several reasons,” Cogevina Reynal says. “The location is the more obvious one. Our entire thesis is ensuring that we can commercialise clubs ... and having a great location certainly helps.
“Once we started digging into the reality of the club and understanding the way it’s structured, we came across a fantastic owner. Stefano Verga [Como’s president, who will continue in his role and remain a shareholder] is incredibly passionate about the team. He took over five years ago, got them promoted several times, and now they’re playing at the top of Italian football with a fraction of the budget of their competitors. They do it all with a lot of pride and care.”
It is clear the potential Cogevina Reynal sees and the importance she places on the sport being able to plough its own course. Recent valuations of National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) clubs – Sportico valued Angel City, backed by celebrity investors including Serena Williams, Christina Aguilera, Eva Longoria and Billie Jean King, at an eye-catching $180m, for example –show how they can thrive. It should be noted, however, that the culture of women’s football in the USA is different from that in Europe, where most teams operate under the umbrella of men’s organisations.
Mercury/13 places a lot of emphasis on the sport’s commercial potential. “It’s really exciting because you get to speak to brands that never really even saw football as a thing to do,” Cogevina Reyna says. “We’re speaking to beauty and fashion brands, pharmaceutical, baby products, and fertility clinics. There are so many that have women at the core of their strategy. We show them a new world and we show them what it can look like.”
Women’s teams have been burned in the past, promised much only to see it taken away when waters get choppy. Cogevina Reynal is insistent that Mercury/13 is in it for the long term. “In Europe we get the interest of big players that will want to come and play for us because they’re excited about the fact that we’re thinking 10 years ahead, and that we’re really trying to understand the best way to build this club,” she says. “That will trickle into many different ways, whether that’s their playing experience, whether that’s the additional services that we can provide, but also post-career.
“All these things are happening because the only thing that we do from day to night is think about women’s football. That’s the reality that big men’s clubs don’t have today. It’s not personal. It’s just a business decision where you need to focus on something else.”
The road has not always been smooth in Mercury/13’s fledging journey. The group was engaged in discussions to take over Lewes but ended up pulling out, something Cogevina Reynal considers “a very normal thing for a fund to do”. Despite the setback, entering the UK market remains a goal and the group hopes to invest “before the end of this year”.
For now, however, Como is Mercury/13’s focus, with the team already on the ground. “I really believe that the world will fall in love with this club the way that we have,” Cogevina Reynal says. “It is this kind of utopia in the world, especially in a country like Italy where women are not where they deserve to be.
“Obviously, [we want] a better performance on the pitch but most importantly for it to become this true example of commercial success. We’re all waiting for that example. Angel City was a great one in the US, but we’re missing one in Europe. Hopefully, that’s going to be Como.”
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