Aston Villa are set to sell 90 per cent of their women’s team to their parent company, V Sports, as part of a financial strategy aimed at helping the club comply with the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Villa’s move follows the model used by Chelsea last year, who sold their women’s team to their holding company, BlueCo, in a similar financial arrangement designed to ease PSR pressure.
00:00Aston Villa are set to sell 90% of their women's team to their parent company vSports as part of a financial strategy aimed at helping the club comply with the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.
00:15The remaining 10% could be sold to an external investor, potentially based in the United States.
00:23Any deal must be approved by the Premier League and valued at fair market rates to count towards PSR compliance.
00:30Villa's move follows the model used by Chelsea last year who sold their women's team to their holding company, Blueco, in a similar financial arrangement designed to ease PSR pressure.
00:42The planned sales come after Villa reported £195m losses over the past two seasons, significantly over the £105m threshold over three years.
00:54Failed to qualify for the Champions League and playing even more a major revenue stream to bolster their accounts, the financial year ending on June 30th.
01:05Although the valuation of Villa's women's team has not yet been disclosed, estimates suggest it could be in the region of £50m.
01:12The Premier League permits the sale of fixed tangible assets to sister companies, provided they meet fair value requirements determined by league auditors.
01:23Chelsea executed a similar transaction in June 2024, selling their women's team to Blueco for around £200m.
01:30The valuation is still under Premier League review, but the subsequent purchase of an 8-10% stake by Alexis O'Hanahan, valued independently by insiders, at more than £20m, has helped reinforce its market legitimacy.
01:44O'Hanahan, the Reddit co-founder and husband of Serena Williams, is now a minority owner in Chelsea Women, reflecting global growth and interest in the Women's Super League.
01:57However, UEFA does not permit such intra-group deals to be counted as revenue under its financial fair play rules.
02:05Both Villa and Chelsea are reported to have breached UEFA's limits last season and are nearing agreements on financial penalties as a result.
