RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - American billionaire John Textor has bought stakes in soccer clubs around the world and he wants to build a network of teams to find talent and move players seamlessly around the globe.
Textor’s interests include Brazilian club Botafogo, Premier League Crystal Palace, French Ligue 1 Olympique Lyonnais and Belgian second division Molenbeek. He is also looking closely at Portugal.
"Who is going to care about these leagues 20 years from now if it's the same winner every time? Whether it's Russian oligarchs or Saudi, Qatar or Abu Dhabi state owned clubs, the concentration of wealth... How does the rest of the world compete? "I'm trying to open up these pathways so that I can unlock massive resources of talent that are not in the system," Textor said."So you have thousands upon thousands of very talented players that are never going to be part of world football. I wanted to have clubs at each one of these environments where if I meet a kid in South or North America it’s an easier path.
"I see some of the biggest soccer clubs as being economic underachievers. How is it possible that Manchester United has 500 million followers out there and they only do 600 million a year in revenue?
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