Actor Rob McElhenney, pictured in a 1990 Republic of Ireland jersey, is among a group of investors … [+]
Even as a relatively recent convert to soccer, Rob McElhenney knew there was something special about the jersey in front of him. He could feel it.
The light blue Napoli shirt with “Mars” across the front and number 10 on the back was once worn by Diego Maradona, arguably the best player in history.
“I walked into the room where it was being held, and I got goosebumps. And I asked the people that were with me if that is a common thing and they said they hear that all the time,” McElhenney, an actor and co-owner of Wrexham A.F.C., tells me in an interview.
“I tried to convince them to let me buy it but they wouldn’t … we’ll see in the future about negotiation.”
The jersey, owned by the company Classic Football Shirts, is not for sale. But McElhenney has secured a slice of the business.
He is one of several investors brought together by the Chernin Group, which invested $38.5 million in growth equity capital in Classic Football Shirts in May. For the year ending June 30 2023, the Manchester, UK-based company secured a post-tax profit of £4.5 million ($5.9m) on revenue of £24.5 million ($32m).
McElhenney “jumped at the chance” to invest through his More Better Ventures company.
“Any chance to grow the sport of football in the U.S. I’m going to take,” he says.
Other investors include two-time World Cup winner Alex Morgan, former USMNT player and Fox Soccer analyst Stu Holden and the investment arm of the Wasserman agency, Wasserman Ventures.
NAPLES, ITALY – JUNE 04: Diego Maradona of Napoli in action during the match between Napoli and … [+]
The investment comes as Classic Football Shirts, which claims “the largest collection of new and hard-to-find authentic football shirts available for sale in the world”, eyes U.S. expansion.
The company was founded in 2006 in Manchester by 21-year-old college friends and soccer fanatics Doug Bierton and Matt Dale. The pair found it was hard to buy vintage soccer jerseys online and, when they were available, the price was high.
Today, the company has nearly 200 employees and has shipped millions of items — from current season to rare and match-worn jerseys — to more than 130 countries.
There are also 6,700 unique or match-worn shirts in “The Vault”, a climate-controlled storage area for items not yet available to the public.
Classic Football Shirts founders Doug Bierton, Gary Bierton and Matthew Dale.
Classic Football Shirts has stores in London, Manchester and Berlin. It opened its first U.S. store, in New York City, in May, with a Los Angeles store to follow in Fall.
The U.S. expansion comes as the country prepares to host the first edition of an expanded, 32-team Club World Cup, next summer. In 2026, the U.S. will co-host the World Cup with Canada and Mexico.
McElhenney believes the U.S.’s increasing interest in the world’s most popular sport was ignited with David Beckham’s transfer to MLS club LA Galaxy in 2007. He mentions soccer’s role in popular culture, including TV shows like Ted Lasso. He thinks Welcome to Wrexham, the eight-time-Emmy-awarded documentary series following the club under the ownership of McElhenney and co-owner Ryan Reynolds, has “at least a small role”.
“Football’s really having a cultural moment in the U.S. You’ve seen a really big boost in the last five to six years,” McElhenney says.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 29: (L-R) Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Jimmy Kimmel attend the … [+]
McElhenney “fell in love” with soccer after learning about the concept of promotion and relegation in the reality series Sunderland ‘Til I die, about the team from the north-east of England.
He and Reynolds invested in Wrexham in 2021 and McElhenney made his first purchase from Classic Football Shirts — a Wrexham shirt from the 1960s with “billowy sleeves” — more than three years ago.
“I loved the design. They were built differently back then,” McElhenney says.
“They seemed so heavy and of course they were heavy because they play the sport in the UK in January, February, March, so they were really thick. I’d never seen a jersey or a kit that looked like that, and it’s really quite beautiful.”
He and Reynolds were “very involved” in designing Wrexham’s retro kit for this season.
McElhenney says his role with Classic Football Shirts is to help market and grow interest in the business.
“Just like I would never go into the football locker room and suggest strategy, I would definitely not do that with a business that’s already thriving,” he says.
BOLTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 18: McElhenney and Reynolds were involved in the design of Wrexham’s kit … [+]
“I think it’s a fantastic company. When you meet young entrepreneurs who started a company literally out of their garage when they were 21 years old and for them to build that is really inspiring to see,” he says.
“It’s inspiring in the way that Ryan and I look at our entire experience, which is ultimately it’s a business. So the bottom line matters.
“However, if we can approach all of our business endeavors with an eye towards respecting the bottom line while also providing a robust experience for the fan, to increase their joy in their fandom, then it’s a win, win, win.”
McElhenney saw firsthand the popularity of the business during a visit to the Classic Football Shirts Manchester store last month. Filming promotional videos, he found the store packed with what he assumed were background actors.
“I talked to one of the background players, and it turned out he was a customer. So I asked the people organizing it, ‘how many of these people are customers, and how many are background actors?’ They said they hired zero background actors. Everybody that was in the store was an actual customer,” he says.
“I said ‘how often is it like this?’ They said ‘from the time we open until the time we close’. “For a brick-and-mortar store to have that kind of in-house success on a daily basis was really inspiring. It says so much about the voraciousness of the fan.
“They’re in there because of the idea of supporting their team through something that they can wear. And it winds up creating, cultivating, fostering a community.”
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