Football is the most popular sport in the world. Hundreds or even thousands of fans are always present to support their favorite clubs competing at various levels, not only in the major leagues but also in smaller clubs spread across the leagues below.

Football is also related to business with its various sectors. This seems to be seen by several celebrities in Indonesia to see the potential of Indonesian football clubs.

First,  Atta Halilintar, a YouTuber with up to 27 million subscribers, recently invested in PSG Pati. This newcomer League 2 club was later changed its name to AHHA PS Pati FC.

Then there was Raffi Ahmad and luxury car entrepreneur Rudy Salim who bought the Cilegon United FC football club. The investment they spent was up to IDR 300 billion to build the League 2 football club. His name was changed to RANS Cilegon FC.

Kaesang Pangarep, the son of President Joko Widodo, also participated in the celebration by owning a stake in the Solo city club, Persis Solo. The artist and celebrity Gading Marten is the owner of the Persikota Tangerang club.

Long before these celebrities glanced at the football club, there was already the name Erick Tohir. The businessman who is now the Minister even took over the majority stake in the Italian club, Inter Milan, in 2013.

The names of other celebrities who also saw the business potential of the football club were also very numerous. There was David Beckham at Inter Miami, Kevin Durant at the Philadelphia Union, Natalie Portman at Angel City FC, Steve Nash at the Vancouver Whitecaps, Mesut Ozil, Eva Longoria and Kate Upton at Necaxa, and LeBron James at Liverpool. Most recently are Ryan Reynold and Rob McElhenney, who took over Wrexham, a football club from Wales.

But what exactly makes celebrities invest in football? Football itself has various aspects to live competition. First is the support of supporters, through ticket sales and merchandise and sponsorships that can be placed in various media. Do not forget the broadcast rights during the competition, which of course brings income for the club.

PwC, a consulting firm, presented a report in 2017 that some 109 billionaires from around the world own 140 of the world's sports brands. This proves that there is great potential for football despite the different forms of competition in each country.

But of course, every investment step in football also has the potential for losses. Some of them are competition systems that do not run well and fairly, and there is a possibility that winning results in competitions do not close the club's operations.

The question is, why do you still dare to invest? PwC concluded that by owning a football club, these wealthy individuals could connect with potential business partners. In addition, if the club succeeds in the competition, it will become a portfolio to open up opportunities for new sponsor funds to enter the club.

Maybe we can take the example of Roman Abramovich, the owner of the Chelsea club and Sheikh Mansour, the boss of Manchester City. In a BBC report, Abramovich became an individual known worldwide, thanks to the large funds given to build Chelsea.

Through Sheikh Mansour, currently, various business companies from the Middle East dominate funds for English football clubs. This makes the names of these Middle Eastern companies familiar to residents of other parts of the world and impact Qatar’s confidence to host the upcoming 2022 World Cup.

This is proof that investing in a football club can expand your network and image to various circles. The result can be in various forms, such as documentaries, content, to the construction of a stadium with the owner's name is very possible. This then makes the names of these celebrities increasingly known and places them in strategic positions in the future.