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Jordan Gardner on American’s investing into European football and his plan to grow young American players on a foreign field In an interview with Premier Sports Network, US investor Jordan Gardner speaks about his investments into European football, the development of young North American players and the impact of COVID-19. While Denmark might not be the first country that comes to mind when discussing European football, it’s worth noting that they are ex-European Championship winners and the Danish Superliga is increasingly yielding teams such as Midtjylland and FC Copenhagen that are starting to make a splash in UEFA competitions on a more regular basis.
However, for American investor Jordan Gardner, Chairman and co-owner of FC Helsingør, the opportunity lies elsewhere. Formed in 2005 from a merger of the five Elsinore clubs, it was initially named Elite 3000 Fodbold, before rebranding to FC Helsingør in 2012. Jordan led a group of investors which bought the second division side in May 2019. Just over a year later, the club was promoted to the Danish Superliga for only the second time in the club’s history. Gardner started making investments at English Championship side Swansea City and Irish club Dundalk FC as a minor investor with both teams, before deciding that he wanted to become the majority ISSUE TWELVE ★ SEPTEMBER 2020
owner at a club and opted for Helsingør. But while he remains an investor at the other two clubs, Gardner stressed that there is no connection between the clubs other than his investments. Gardner turned to football after he owned and then sold a sports and entertainment ticketing company in 2015. He then worked as Vice President of Investment and Business Strategy at the
and a business model that tantalises young stars with the prospect of regular first team football, so they can move onto the upper echelons of European football when the time is right. What were your motivations behind investing into European football? “European football offers a unique opportunity for someone like myself who
“The sport is just looked at in a very different way in Europe versus the United States, and it takes time, energy and humility to understand how to be successful in European Football.” digital media company JUGOtv which was later acquired by Relevent Sports. With ambitious plans for growth, that directly tie into the fates of future development for players from one of the most expecting nations in the world, there is a massive potential to create a new powerhouse in Denmark relying on a unique strategy to acquire top players
has a strong background in the business world, and entrepreneurship. You can buy a lower division club and use your expertise to get that club promoted, you can create a sophisticated player development and talent identification system to sell players, or can just simply buy one of the many poorly run clubs and run it in a more efficient manner.”
