He declared bankruptcy 20 years ago. Just a decade ago he played for the Swiss elite. Legia Warszawa’s closest rival in the Conference League was in oblivion until recently. FC Lugano was put on a pedestal by a man who knows nothing about football, but already has two clubs in his business portfolio. However, he knows how to count money and knows what diversification is, so if he failed in Chicago Fire, it does not mean that the investment elsewhere will also fail. And he wasn’t wrong, because the Pride of Ticino is pushing himself more and more boldly with his elbows. Will the military feel it on their own skin on Thursday?
– I didn’t have an easy situation in Chicago. They wanted to replace several players, including me. I started looking for a club in Europe. I was offered training in Lugano. After two or three months, I immediately received an offer of further cooperation. I saw that the club wanted me. I talked to other clubs in Europe. There was a lack of specifics. Lugano was the most specific. I also liked the activists’ approach and didn’t think twice about it. Everything happened in a few days, and theoretically I only came for tests – Kacper Przybyłko presented the behind-the-scenes of his transfer to Lugano on TVP Sport.
Player transfer
The Polish striker did not do well in MLS. He scored only three goals in the entire 2023 season for Chicago Fire, but none in the second half of the year. Suddenly, in the winter of 2024, out of the blue, he moved from the US to Switzerland. In addition, Lugano itself offered him training. One could then wonder whether this club had such talented scouts, or maybe a modern algorithm that suggested the Polish striker to the team’s playing style that resulted in this transfer. Or maybe, on the contrary, Przybyłka’s agent took matters into his own hands?
None of these things. The player himself is somewhat untrue in his statement, because he did not reveal why Lugano and not FC Zurich or FC St. Gallen or another Swiss club offered him training. It all comes down to one character – Joe Mansueto, who owns both Chicago Fire and Lugano. This is how he announced American-Swiss transfers in 2021:
– We now have a partner club to which, if allowed, players will transfer – from Chicago to Lugano and vice versa – said Mansueto, quoted on the official website of the Firefighters, and added. – The clubs will support each other and share best practices. We want to bring joy to Lugano fans and continue to develop Fire. I would like to thank our sports director Georg Heitz for his hard work and vision to take over FC Lugano. We are fully committed to investing in both of our teams and extremely excited about the future.
A fortune worth $6.5 billion
In total, there have been seven transfers between Chicago Fire and Lugano over the last three years. Apart from Przybyłka, Ignacio Aliseda, Jhon Espinoza and Justin Reynolds moved to Switzerland. Maren Haile-Selassie, Ousmane Doumbia and Allan Arigoni went in the opposite direction. These are not names that will bring you to your knees. What’s more, probably few fans knew about their existence until today.
Someone may now – quite rightly – ask why Joe Mansueto – the 184th richest man in the world in the Forbes ranking for 2024 – needs a club like Lugano. He couldn’t even take Legia? After all, both of these clubs are ranked L, but the Warsaw club is doing better in the Conference League. And maybe if the Military show themselves well enough against the Swiss team, Mansueto will buy them. The simplest answer to why an American multimillionaire bought Lugano is to say – because he could.
Mansueto’s fortune is around $6.5 billion. Morningstar, a company that he founded in one of his Chicago apartments and provides investment management services on the capital market, is one of the most respected on global financial markets. It is present, among others, on stock exchanges such as NASDAQ or S&P 400. In July 2018, Mansueto decided to buy 49% of Chicago Fire shares, but this was not enough for him and the next year he owned the entire club. He immediately decided to change basic things like the logo and the stadium.
Transfer! How about we talk to the footballer?
Since Mansueto took over the Chicago Fire, the club has never advanced to the MLS playoffs. Perhaps this prompted him to take over Lugano. The American multimillionaire does not know much about football. This is proven not only by the results achieved by Firefighters, but also by the words he and his trusted director, Heitz, said after taking over the Swiss club. Despite this, each arrival of the club’s owner is celebrated with great celebration.
– I want to invest some money in Lugano – Mansueto announced after the takeover. When asked how much, he was unable to answer. – I don’t have an idea yet at the moment.
– This acquisition will give us much more flexibility in building our MLS squad. This is absolutely clear – Heitz blurted out about acquiring the best players from Lugano. After a while he decided to reflect a bit. – But we should be careful because players are still only people and we should talk to them first before we move them, but it will give us a lot of flexibility.
Meek jak Known
Typical American, capitalist thinking. Everything is a commodity – even football players. And in this, Mansueto is no different from any other filthy rich person walking around this world. He also did not look for any extravagant methods of investing in sports. He simply ripped off what another multimillionaire living on the other side of the Great Lakes of North America came up with.
Mansueto decided to make a similar move to Lino Saputo, who is far from a multimillionaire from Chicago in financial terms. In this year’s Billionaires ranking, the Canadian of Italian descent ranks only 734th, while the American is 424th. Despite this difference, which consists of over two billion dollars less in the wallet, the business model of both wealthy people involving investing in sports is very similar. Saputo also took over the MLS club where he developed his company, CF Montreal. At the same time, he pumped a lot of money into the Italian Bologna, which is also difficult to understand since Lino was born in Sicily.
However, Lugano had two advantages over Legia or other clubs. Mansueto regularly came to Switzerland and fell in love with the charming location of the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy. And the club was experiencing serious financial problems and was a lucrative investment opportunity.
Pulled from oblivion
To explain Lugano’s difficult past, we need to go back to 2003. It was then that, due to financial problems, the club declared bankruptcy and disappeared from the football map of Switzerland. In its place, AC Lugano was established, which included players under 21 years of age. A year later, there was a merger with the Malcantone Agno club, which was supposed to help the club return to the elite. However, Malcantone Ango aka Lugano stayed in the Challenge League for many years. Even the club’s takeover by Italian businessman Giambattista Pastorello and restoration of the original name did not help with immediate promotion. It was only in 2015 that Lugano FC returned to the Super League.
It is coach Mattia Croci-Torti who is behind Lugano’s sporting successes. Joe Mansueto is a rare visitor to the Ticino Pride stadium.
However, successes came only when Mansueto, or rather coach Mattia Croci-Torti, delegated by him, took over the club. It is he, and not the founder of Morningstar, who has been coming to Switzerland for a long time, who is behind the good results of Pride of Ticino. Unlike Chicago Fire, Lugano won the trophy in the first year after the takeover – it was the first Swiss Cup in almost 30 years. Year by year, Croci-Torti’s team also takes higher and higher places in the league. In the 2021/22 season it was fourth. The next one was third, and the last one was second. Now Swiss toy Mansueto remains the leader of the Super League.
– Winning the Swiss championship is our ambition – Mansueto stated bluntly during the October press conference.
The plans are therefore ambitious. Will Legia find out about its real scale? We’ll find out today.
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