Fernando Veiga Gomes analyses foreign investment in Portuguese football
Fernando Veiga Gomes spoke to Expresso about the growing presence of foreign investors in Portuguese football.
According to the newspaper, 22 of the 33 teams competing in Portugal’s two professional leagues in the 2026/27 season have foreign capital in their ownership structures. Only one third of professional clubs remain outside a trend that is also beginning to gain traction in the lower divisions. “Portugal is a country where clubs can be acquired at lower prices, with some investment still required,” explains the Head of Sports Law at Abreu Advogados. Compared with other European markets, Portuguese football allows investors to acquire a majority stake for amounts that would not be sufficient to purchase a club in the fourth or fifth tier of English football.
Excluding Benfica, FC Porto, Sporting, Braga and Vitória SC, Fernando Veiga Gomes estimates that a Primeira Liga club with a reasonably well-organised structure may be worth between €30 million and €40 million. In Liga 2, valuations are around €10 million to €15 million, while a Liga 3 club may be acquired for €4 million to €5 million. “There is a very significant jump in value when a club is promoted,” he notes. This appreciation makes the lower tiers particularly attractive: investors can acquire clubs at a lower price, invest over several seasons and benefit from the increase in value associated with promotion.
Fernando Veiga Gomes also discusses the growth of multi-club ownership and identifies two dominant models: a centralised model built around a flagship club, such as the City Football Group, and a more horizontal model focused on player development and talent circulation, such as the one adopted across the Red Bull network.
The analysis highlights the growing internationalisation of Portuguese football and Abreu’s experience in advising on increasingly complex transactions involving investors, clubs and multi-club structures.
