In the World of Football, many call themselves investors or claim to have “an investor.”
There is, without a doubt, a lot of interest, but also a great deal of misunderstanding — especially from those who come from other industries accustomed to immediate or short- to medium-term returns.
Often, these individuals are driven by the passion that surrounds the World’s most popular Sport.
As we know, passion, emotion, and sentiment are difficult to explain or quantify.
Without proper guidance and support from an effective team, they end up poorly advised or led into miscalculations regarding the potential returns football can offer, particularly in the short term.

However, there are good examples!
Examples where the fundamental elements of any organization—Vision, Strategy, and Qualified Teams—are put into practice effectively.

Today, I propose an analysis of one of the standout examples in Portuguese Football: Casa Pia AC.

In 2019, the club secured promotion to Professional Leagues.
Yes, it was just six years ago that the Club was in the third tier of Portuguese Football!

Interestingly, Ruben Amorim started the Season as the Head Coach but had to leave midway due to weekly fines for lacking the required qualifications for the role, which burdened the club financially.

The name sounds familiar?

The 2019/2020 season was turbulent, with a poor finish, translated into relegation, and that (theoretically) would have sent the club back to the semi-professional leagues.
Fate had it that Casa Pia AC was given a lifeline due to the financial insolvency of other professional clubs, allowing them to remain in Liga 2.

At the same time, during the Summer of 2020, in another fortunate coincidence, a Multi-Ownership Club (MOC) fund entered the Club—a fund owning multiple clubs across different geographies.
It’s worth noting that FIFA does not allow such funds or companies to own clubs competing in the same National Leagues.

Therefore, let’s begin the analysis with the 2020/2021 Season.
The team was in Liga 2, with little time for preseason preparation and players arriving to play almost immediately.
Everything pointed toward yet another year of extreme difficulties.
However, the team finished in a comfortable 9th place overall.

In the 2021/2022 season, the surprise came with a 2nd-place finish and subsequent promotion to the Portuguese Primeira Liga (equivalent to The Premier League) — a feat the club hadn’t achieved since 1939!

Please note that, until now, I haven’t mentioned financial results, particularly Player Sales.
Firstly, because they are nonexistent.
Secondly, because if they did exist, as in great majority (not to say all of Club’s reality) they weren’t significant.

We can assume there were two seasons of pure investment without substantial external support.
Liga 2 teams receive a minimal amount from televised matches and some additional league funds, which are naturally insufficient.

Now, we enter the Portuguese Primeira Liga!
This arena, beyond its much more competitive and higher-quality nature, offers significantly more attractive revenue opportunities.

The 2022/2023 season resulted in a satisfactory 10th-place finish and a positive balance of just under €300,000.
Positive in every sense, since it was the first time after more than 80 years away from this stage!

The 2023/2024 season ended with another comfortable 9th place, but with a great story behind it.
The Club was now able to generate approximately €6 million in Player Sales, and €225,000 invested in new signings.
In other words, a net profit ranging between €5 million and €6 million purely from Player-related transactions!

Currently (January 2025), the club sits in 6th place in the Primeira Liga and already boasts a Sales balance of around €5 million.
In graphical terms, this represents not only a progressive improvement in Sporting Performance but also a tangible appreciation of various Club Assets, particularly its Players.

All this at a Club that, despite having its facilities very close to the Center of Lisbon, that is, having a central and attractive location, cannot (at least, for now) use its own Stadium to hold Championship games.
In other words, through this, you always end up having logistics limitations resulting from having to travel successively to all the games, whether as a visitor or a guest team.
In addition, to making strategies and potential revenue from Matchday virtually impossible to achieve!

From a Vision and Strategy point of view, the Club also demonstrates a qualitative leap.
In fact, this fact is easily noticeable, whether through the Club’s commitment to bringing the Club closer to the Community – even taking into account these limitations of games taking place elsewhere – through its Communication (Social Networks, Newsletter, Website), but also a development of its positioning as an important asset for business partners, through Sponsorships and Partnerships (Adidas, Hospital da Luz, ESC Online, etc.) or Merchandising (Club Store, the creation and dissemination of limited edition match shirts, etc.).

To reinforce this Strategic Positioning of the Club, I reinforce here the importance of having a Sporting component based on the Development of Talent internally – through its Football Youth Development Department.
In this chapter, all of its main age-categories (Under 19, Under 17 and Under 15) also moved up a level, with today the U19’s and U17’s in the main level of National Youth Football and the U15’s in the 2nd National Division (when in 2021 he was in the Regional/District Competitions of the Lisbon Football Association).

In other words, there is in practice an integral Development of the Club and which, in addition to translating into positive Sporting and Financial results for the Club, also brings us the real possibility of being Sustainable.

However, this is not possible without Investment, without Vision, without a qualified Work Team.
Nor patience.

Because Football is not just passion and emotion.
It’s Vision, Strategy, Accountability, Execution, Monitoring, Evaluation and Review (and, probably, adjustments) just like any other company.
Because only with these steps is it possible to be consistent, sustainable, profitable and, thus, maintain passion and emotion at high levels!

Does this text mean that a Club cannot be profitable in the first few years?
No!

But, are you expected to make profits immediately?
Difficult, at a minimum.
For everyone, let alone smaller clubs.

On the other hand, being a smaller Club has great advantages, as any small change or new strategy can bring returns that become much more significant and impactful.

One thing is for sure, as someone said “If you are standing still, you are losing!”

It’s time to be prepared.
This example demonstrates that, with a clear Vision, a defined Strategy, and a qualified Team, it is possible to grow sustainably and invest in Football realistically and effectively.

In the future I will talk about other examples, other Clubs that have done things well, in Portugal and around the world.

What other examples you know that are worth to study?

Let’s discuss and prepare agents within the Clubs!

Disclaimer: the data presented here was taken from the websites transfermarkt.com and zerozero.pt