There’s a close link between football and urban music – many players enjoy their rap, hip hop and other sub genres, while many rappers and singers played the beautiful game at a decent level prior to making the move into the professional music scene.
Whether Stormzy, the chart-topping British rapper, was any good at football in his younger days only he can say, but he has shown his love for the sport – and his hometown of Croydon – by buying his local club.
The 29-year-old has teamed up with Crystal Palace ace Wilfried Zaha and a member of the Eagles’ backroom staff, Danny Young, to take a full ownership stake in AFC Croydon Athletic.
They all have a personal connection to Croydon, which makes you think this takeover might be more successful than an international consortium buying a share in a sports team with an objective of milking them dry financially.
Stormzy might not be the first person you think of when it comes to football club ownership, but he’s not the only celebrity to swap the TV studio and the stage for the boardroom.
Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenny (Wrexham)
They’ve become the poster boys for unlikely football club ownership, but Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny have proven themselves to be savvy businessmen in other fields.
Between them, they own or have owed stakes in Mint Mobile – sold to T-Mobile for nearly £1 billion earlier this year, the Match Group dating agency, Aviation Gin and now the Alpine F1 team.
The duo took over at Wrexham FC in February 2021, finally securing promotion to the EFL in the summer of 2023. They have raised eyebrows with their spending – some of their players were on wages more usually found in League One than the Vanarama National, but there’s no doubting the commitment of Reynolds and McElhenny to the cause in Wales.
Elton John (Watford)
Perhaps Stormzy and Zaha will take inspiration from Elton John, who guided his beloved local club Watford to success from the 1970s onwards.
The Hornets were in the fourth tier of English football when the Crocodile Rock singer became club chairman in 1976, but by 1982 not only had they been promoted three times, they were also top of the old First Division – now known as the Premier League – after six games of the new season.
Appearances in the FA Cup final were also a feature of Elton’s at the helm, before he started to invest less in the club in the early 2000s. They have since become something of a yo-yo club between the Premier League and the Championship – the Yellow Brick Road of English football.
Matthew McConaughey (Austin FC)
Texan film star Matthew McConaughey has reinvested some of his Hollywood earnings back into the local community – namely MLS team Austin FC.
The Dallas Buyers Club actor owns the club as part of his Two Oaks Ventures group, and was watching on as they reached the semi-finals of the MLS Cup in 2022 – where they were downed by Los Angeles FC, the franchise part-owned by fellow thespian Will Ferrell.
Not content with just being the club’s owner, McConaughey is also one of their loudest and most passionate supporters….
David Beckham (Inter Miami)
Although he’s best known for his playing days with Manchester United and England, David Beckham was one of the first footballers to really become a celebrity in his own right.
Since the end of his playing days, Becks has appeared in TV adverts and made a series of investments – one of the most prominent being in MLS expansion franchise Inter Miami.
Although Beckham won stacks of trophies as a player, the same cannot be said for his new love Inter, who have only reached the play-offs once in three seasons – they lost in the first round there too.
Maybe business will start to pick up now that some chap by the name of Lionel Messi has agreed to join the Florida-based outfit….
Natalie Portman (Angel City FC)
The National Women’s Soccer League franchise Angel City was founded by four co-owners – one of them being Star Wars, V for Vendetta and Thor actress Natalie Portman.
She is obviously well connected, and now Angel City have an ownership team that reads like the credits of a Hollywood movie – Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Garner and Eva Longoria are on board, while tennis legends Serena Williams and Billie Jean King have also invested.
Having such a stellar cast of investors didn’t help Angel City in their maiden NWSL season – they failed to reach the play-offs, but with such a powerful group behind them surely it’s only a matter of time before they are dominating the competition.