The complicated Americanization of European soccer

An increasing number of teams are finding themselves under American ownership. What does that mean for the continent's most popular sport?

Photo collage of a bald eagle swooping on to a soccer pitch to grab the ball in its talons.
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(Image credit: Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images)

When "Welcome to Wrexham" premiered in 2022, the premise was a novel one: two North American actors — Rob McElhenney of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds  — with just a superficial understanding of soccer take ownership of Wales' historic Wrexham Association Football Club, hoping to lift the team out of the English football league's bottom tier. Now in its third season, the docuseries is a bona fide hit as audiences follow the stars' crash course in European football and cheer on a team many had never heard of before the show aired. 

But for all of the show's made-for-TV charm, the fundamental story it tells is not wholly limited to the sleepy Welsh town for which it is named. While McElhenney and Reynolds may have the spotlight of Hollywood illuminating their foray into foreign football, European soccer leagues — particularly in the U.K. — have become hotbeds for American investments. The impact of the trend is being felt not only in the corporate boardrooms of teams across Europe but in the stadiums as well. There, the continent's long and storied soccer culture is coming face to face with an infusion of uniquely American energy. 

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.