Fredrikstad Fotball Invest is Growing and so is the Support it Offers to Fredrikstad FK
About an hour and a half south of Oslo, Norway, the town of Fredrikstad is home to a football club that once was one of the most successful in the country.
Fredrikstad FK is Norway’s second most successful club in terms of top-flight league victories but it hasn’t enjoyed much success since its heyday in the mid-20th century.
You could argue that things aren’t great for such a storied club. It’s spent a decade outside of the top flight and its last domestic cup title was nearly two decades ago.
However, a company was founded in 2018 to generate money that could be used to invest in the club and its players and guarantee better performances on the pitch to bring Fredrikstad FK back to Norway’s top league and its former glory.
Fredrikstad Fotball Invest (FFI)
Initially, the company had over 50 investors including Tor Anders Petterøe and Golden Touch Media SA, which is the largest stakeholder group in FFI.
The money that FFI gains from investors is used to subsequently invest in the club they love. This isn’t about owning the club, but rather empowering the club’s management to run the club well and work towards getting it back to where its fans think it belongs: Norway’s top flight.
One way it does this is through the players. FFI has an agreement whereby it’s responsible for 30% of the club’s players. Not 30% of the individuals, but rather, when it comes to buying and selling players for the club, FFI contributes 30% of the fees and, in return, receives 30% from the sale of players.
It also helps the club secure professional contracts for young talent. Without these contracts, future stars are often snapped up by bigger clubs, something which Fredrikstad FK and FFI are looking to avoid.
These agreements are helping the club to acquire better players during the transfer window while also ensuring the club focuses on local youth development. It should be added that FFI doesn’t interfere in the buying and selling of players and is happy to take a back seat and let club management run their transfer policies.
FFI is happy in its role as a financial partner to the club, believes in the club’s ability to grow and improve, and is looking for mostly local investors that love the club, like Petterøe and others, to help make that a reality.
This isn’t a charity, though. The money comes from investors buying stocks in FFI and after three years, the company is turning a profit.
Things are looking good for FFI and, despite a heartbreaking promotion play-off last year that would have seen the club achieve back-to-back promotions and return to the top-flight, things are also looking better for Fredrikstad Fotball Invest.
This summer’s transfer window will be an interesting one for the club and will be watched very closely by fans and FFI’s stakeholders alike. After all, Norway’s domestic leagues run across a single calendar year so players are all very likely to be under contract during the summer. If you want to make a splash, you have to cough up the cash!
Photo by Eivind Hauger on Flickr
