Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
West Ham co-owner Daniel Kretinsky has just secured instant £16m boost
Daniel Kretinsky’s long-term ambitions at West Ham are something of a mystery, but the Czech billionaire has just secured a significant financial windfall elsewhere in football.
When Kretinsky first bou🐻ght 27 per cent of West Ham for around £180m in November 2021, he included a clause that stipulated that he could take full control of the club for a set price.
However, the 49-year-old has shown no signs of activating that option, nor has he appeared to show any interest in acquiring the shares of Vanessa Gold, a chunk of which ar𝄹e currently for sale.
Kretinsky is admittedly preo🐠ccupi🧸ed with his seismic takeover of the Royal Mail, which will set him back approximately £3.5bn and se🀅e him become one of the UK’s most scrutini🗹sed business owners.
But he seems to be content being a silent partner at West Ham, who are not the only football club in his p🐠ortfolio.
Kretinsky bought his boyhood club Sparta Prague two decades ago, in which time൩ they have won the Czech First League six times.
They have not qualified for the Champions League group stage, however, sin🅺ce 2005-06. Until the last few days, that is.
And the latest developments with Sparta prove that Kretinsky’s ownership could one day be an issu♍e for West Ham.⛦
- READ MORE WEST HAM NEWS: West Ham hav💙e just made an offer to sign £13m player Lionel Messi called🍬 ‘extraordinary’
Kretinsky nets £16m as UEFA conflict of interest rules laid bare for West Ham
There is an argument🔯 to say that recent seasons have been the best in West Ham’s history in terms of results – and certainly in terms of their performances in European compet♓ition.
Under David Moyes, the Irons won their first ever European trophy in the Europa 𓆉Conference League in 2022-23, which followed a run to the Europa League semi-finals the previous season.
In 2023-24, West Ham were only knocked out of the Europa League at the quarter-final stage by a 🃏Bayer Leverkusen ▨side who lost one game in all competitions that campaign.
West Ham have never qualifie🌟d for the Champions League, unlike Kretinsky’s Sparta Prague whose 4-0 aggregate victory over Malmo on Tuesday secured passage to the group sta෴ge.
As relayed by The , the expanded Champ♑ions League will be worth a bare minimum of £16m to participating tea🌜ms this season.
In reality, performance bonuses and a share of the market pool and newly created va▨lue pillar means the true figure will be far higher.
The rhetoric from the West Ham board has always been that they want to see the club competing regularly in Europe, but Sparta could present an obstacle to that because of UEFA’s du☂al ownership rules.
UEFA is clamping down on multi-club ownership, or at lea⭕st multi-club representation in its competitions.
Man United and Man City have been granted dispensation to play alongside subsidiary 🌼clubs Nice and Gir🎐ona this season, but that is only a temporary reprieve.
If West Ham and Sparta Prague were ever to qualify for the same competition, i🍷t is unlikely that European football’s governing body would allow both to participate.
Kretinsky’s long-term ambitions at West Ham
Kretinsky’s investment in West Hamౠ three years ag🌠o appraised the club somewhere £600m.
Vice-chair Karren Brady has prev♌iously valued West Ham at around £🐽800m, which potentially illustrates that the current ♈regime believe there is significant upside to be achieved.
However, the relatively diffuse ownership struct⛎ure at the club means that the merits of controlling a minority stake for Kretinsky are not entirely clear.
The Hammers are one of only a handful of clubs in the Premier League to have ♒more or less broken even in recent years, so it does not appear that Kretinsky has had to provid🎉e any funding.
It may be the case that he is waiting for the broader ownership picture to present itself before he makes a move, with the future status of the shares previ🀅ously owned by the ♉late David Gold yet to be resolved.