Euro 2020: which football club’s shares would I buy today?

Football fans eagerly await the UEFA Euro 2020 England-Italy tournament final at 8pm tonight. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking today about the many parallels between business and football. Many factors needed to be a great football side are also required by top companies. For group efforts to succeed, you need a respected management team, strong leadership, and a clear strategy. Likewise, to achieve your goals (“Back of the net!”), you need experience and discipline. Finally, having star players (forwards like England’s Harry Kane and Italy’s Ciro Immobile) is great, but only teamwork makes the dream work.

Seven listed football clubs

Another parallel between Euro 2020 finalists England and Italy is both countries have football clubs with listed shares. I count seven European football clubs with shares listed on three different stock markets:

Four of the seven listed clubs are from the UK. These are leading English clubs Manchester United and Arsenal, plus Glaswegian giants Celtic and Rangers. Two clubs are listed on Euro 2020 finalist Italy’s Borsa Italiana in Milan: Turin’s Juventus and Roma of the Eternal City. Shares in Germany’s Dortmund have been listed on the Deutsche Börse since 2000.

Unsurprisingly, given their winning heritages, several of these clubs have players appearing in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final. These include England players Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire of Man Utd, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, and Jaden Sancho and Jude Bellingham of Dortmund. Likewise, Italy’s Wembley side includes Juventus regulars Federico Bernardeschi, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Federico Chiesa. Italy’s Roma players are Bryan Cristante, Alessandro Florenzi and Leonardo Spinazzola.

Which club’s shares would I buy?

Despite the hype surrounding Euro 2020, it would be tough for me to actually invest in a listed football club’s shares. That’s because football clubs are notorious money pits — thanks to spiralling player wages, transfer fees, expensive stadium refurbishments, etc. Indeed, one old joke goes: “How do you make £100m? Start with £1bn and then buy a football club!”

However, if you forced me to choose between these seven stocks, I’d look for a company with a strong winning heritage. By this, I mean a team that combines footballing wins on the pitch with financial success in the boardroom. In Italy, Juventus (‘the Old Lady of Turin’) has won over 70 titles and is regarded as the premier Italian side. It also has four players in Italy’s Euro 2020 squad. But 63.8% of Juventus shares are owned by the billionaire Agnelli family, so I wouldn’t want to be a minority shareholder in this £811m family-controlled firm.

Of the remaining six clubs, for me, only one has the prestige and pedigree worth buying. As a West Ham fan, it pains me to say that, of the six remaining clubs, I’d buy shares in £1.8bn Manchester United (NYSE: MANU). That’s because they’ve won more trophies than any other club in English football. But it’s also because the business consistently has some of the highest revenues and profits in world football. When I buy shares, I like to buy solid winners, so Man U is my Euro 2020 pick!