By Andy Marston, Sports Pundit
Two of the most prominent athlete-led investment groups are joining forces to create the world’s largest global athlete investor community.
The Players Fund (UK) and The Players Company (US) have announced a strategic partnership that brings together over 850 athletes and artists under a shared mission of empowerment, education, and cross-border collaboration.
The Players Company, founded by NFL stars Sheldon Day, Richard Sherman, and executive Tom Zheng, counts over 2,000 athlete and entrepreneur members across leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB, with advisors including Bob Iger and Maverick Carter.
The Players Fund, the UK’s first athlete-led venture firm, brings deep ties across European football, cricket, and Olympic sports, with a focus on early-stage investments in frontier technology, marketplaces, health, and communities.
The partnership will create a shared pipeline of investment deals, educational programming, and industry activations around global sports moments like the Super Bowl, Wimbledon, and Ryder Cup.
Backed founders will benefit from access to both networks, helping UK companies expand into the US, and vice versa, through a powerful athlete-powered platform.
Why It Matters:
This alliance unlocks something rare: shared learning at scale.
For UK and European athletes, it provides access to the more mature US athlete investor ecosystem, where financial literacy, community deal sharing, and athlete-led venture models are further along. For US athletes, it offers a gateway to international markets, ideas, and founders they might otherwise never see.
Athletes have global influence, unique access, and the potential to be transformational investors but too few are given the tools to act on that. By combining networks and building joint education pathways, The Players Fund and The Players Company are turning that influence into informed action.
Crucially, this collaboration also challenges the zero-sum mindset common in sport. In a world driven by wins and losses, this partnership shows what’s possible when athletes align for collective growth. The opportunity is bigger than any one individual and this alliance signals a growing appreciation for that shared upside.
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