Former NFL Star Marques Colston: Why Everyone Is Buying Into Soccer

Saints all-time receiving yards leader Marques Colston remains focused on football. Just not American football.  

The 10-year NFL veteran cofounded The Champion Fund, which is an SEC-registered interval fund designed to give athletes and everyday investors access to sports-related opportunities. One of the fund’s four investments is in Ipswich Town, an English soccer club recently promoted from the EFL Championship to the Premier League. 

“The demand for live sports is not going anywhere,” Colston told Front Office Sports when asked about the investment on the latest episode of Portfolio Players. “You have a sport that’s huge globally already, that’s growing and has tailwinds. You just try to find that next undervalued asset.”

When looking at soccer teams to invest in, Colston said he was less concerned about the players on the roster and more interested in off-field operations. He cited Ipswich’s gameday experience, along with its ticket sales, as reasons why the club stood out. 

“They have a really buttoned up business outside of the game itself and now that the game itself has gotten them into a position where they were able to get promoted, we have a really good entry point and hopefully we stay up there,” he said.

The Champion Fund’s “entry point” into minority ownership of Ipswich Town came prior to the club’s promotion to the Premier League this past May. Ipswich Town spent the 2024-25 campaign in the Premier League before being relegated to the EFL Championship last season.

Colston said the threat of relegation is something investors have to consider when looking to purchase a stake in an English soccer team. Where a team stands and which league it’s playing in can ultimately determine whether an investor is buying low or high.

“It has a huge impact on your entry point,” he said. “If your entry point is the Premier League and you’re one of the bottom-tier teams, you have to underwrite that risk.”

The World Cup being in North America also played a key role in the fund’s decision to invest in soccer. The tournament produced record viewership numbers in the U.S., with the final averaging over 66 million viewers. 

“The visibility and the engagement around the World Cup is a tailwind for all of soccer globally,” he said. “It’s a unique space in time where all these tailwinds are marrying up.”

The American takeover of English soccer doesn’t appear to be slowing down, with 11 of the Premier League’s 20 teams having U.S. ownership. While factors like soccer’s global appeal and the 2026 World Cup certainly have played a role, Colston doesn’t deny that investors may just be trying to find the next Wrexham. 

“I think it’s in the back of everyone’s mind,” he said. “That story is just so awesome.”