February 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nChelsea Women welcomed Antetokounmpo with a post on their official X account, and club officials confirmed his addition to the ownership group when approached by The Athletic.<\/p>\n
This week, Eric Nehm, The Athletic\u2019s Bucks writer, spoke exclusively to Antetokounmpo to explore why he decided to get involved with Chelsea Women.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played soccer,\u201d says the Greece-born 31-year-old. \u201cMy dad was a professional soccer player. I have a lot of friends who play soccer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was having a conversation with Alexis Ohanian, and he was telling me about the plan that he has. He was telling me how he wants to make a difference and do things that his daughters can remember him for, and I was like, \u2018Damn, I didn\u2019t even think about that\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I was like, \u2018OK, what are you doing?\u2019, and he was like, \u2018I\u2019m doing this, I\u2019m doing that, I\u2019m trying to keep on pushing forward and investing in women\u2019s sports and just change the narrative around that\u2019. And I said, \u2018Hey, I mean, just let me know when and what I gotta do\u2019, and then the opportunity came to my desk of investing and being a minority owner of Chelsea Women. I was like, \u2018Say less. I want to do it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here, we look at what this newfound partnership between Antetokounmpo and Chelsea Women could mean for the team\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-461479936-scaled.jpg\")
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\n A young Giannis Antetokounmpo in January 2015 on a visit to Chelsea\u2019s Stamford Bridge home stadium (Gary Dineen\/NBAE via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Do we know the size of his stake?<\/p>\n
No one involved has divulged the financial details of Antetokounmpo\u2019s investment, or the size of his stake. It is also unclear whether he has bought directly into Chelsea Women or into Ohanian\u2019s minority holding.<\/p>\n
What is clear is that with more than $300million (\u00a3220m) in NBA career earnings and tens of millions more to his name through a variety of endorsement deals, he is an investor of significant means, as well as one with a global profile.<\/p>\n
What is the ownership structure of Chelsea Women?<\/p>\n
In April 2025, it emerged Chelsea had transferred ownership of their women\u2019s team to Blueco 22 Midco Limited the previous June, booking \u00a3198.7million \u2014 a move the club claimed would better position the women\u2019s team for direct outside investment, but also carried the significant benefit of helping the men\u2019s team to achieve compliance with the Premier League\u2019s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) for 2023-24.<\/p>\n
Ohanian then came on board as Chelsea Women\u2019s first minority investor in the May, paying around \u00a320million for a stake of about 10 per cent in the club. As well as giving the team an enthusiastic new public backer, the deal also acted as market validation of their initial valuation of Chelsea Women as worth approximately \u00a3200m.<\/p>\n
BlueCo has no interest in selling its majority stake in Chelsea Women, but is building out its ownership group with Ohanian and now Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n
Are Chelsea the most valuable women\u2019s football club in the world?<\/p>\n
Senior figures at Chelsea would argue so, and likely point to Ohanian\u2019s investment as compelling evidence that the market agrees.<\/p>\n
That valuation of \u00a3200million eclipses the $250m (\u00a3183.4m at the current rate) Willow Bay and former Disney CEO Bob Iger paid to buy Los Angeles-based National Women\u2019s Soccer League (NWSL) side Angel City in 2024.<\/p>\n
The reality is less clear-cut.<\/p>\n
Barcelona Femeni from Spain, the dominant women\u2019s club side in Europe on the pitch for much of this decade, have never been made available for purchase or minority investment. Neither have Arsenal Women, the current holders of the UEFA Women\u2019s Champions League title. Both would likely command significant interest on the open market.<\/p>\n
Eight-time UEFA Women\u2019s Champions League winners Olympique Lyonnais Feminin offer a favourable benchmark for Chelsea. In May 2023, a group led by Michele Kang acquired a 52.9 per cent stake in the French club in a deal that reportedly valued them at just $54.4million.<\/p>\n
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\n (Tiego Grenho\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
What benefit does being associated with Antetokounmpo have for Chelsea?<\/p>\n
Perhaps mindful that Green\u2019s departure would dominate the conversation around Chelsea Women this week, the club have not yet opened up on where their newfound relationship with Antetokounmpo could take them.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo may not be a household name on the level of LeBron James or Michael Jordan to those who do not follow basketball, but over the course of a 13-year professional career, he has established himself as one of the most famous faces in the NBA, as well as one of the greatest basketball talents of his generation.<\/p>\n
His journey, from growing up the son of poor Nigerian immigrants in Greece to earning his place in the pantheon of basketball greats, is among the most inspirational in any sport and his brand, positioned around his work ethic and passion, carries more authenticity than most. Finally, the combination of his Nigerian heritage, his Greek upbringing and his American sporting success ensures his fame is truly international.<\/p>\n
Those are all significant positives for Chelsea Women as they seek to continue building their own profile, as well as helping to provide a lift for women\u2019s football more broadly.<\/p>\n
How do they best take advantage of the association?<\/p>\n
Richard Adelsberg, chief executive of Ear To The Ground, a sports advertising agency that counts the NBA among its clients, identifies one intriguing option.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d definitely go into the apparel space,\u201d he told\u00a0The Athletic, pointing to the fact that both Antetokounmpo and Chelsea Women have deals with Nike.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrands and football clubs play it safe. They talk a lot about the softer things around women\u2019s sport, around empowerment and growing the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut his brand (Nike has taken creative inspiration from Antetokounmpo\u2019s NBA nickname, \u2018The Greek Freak,\u2019 for his signature shoe line) has such an edge to it, and there\u2019s an opportunity to stand out and do something culturally credible.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are broad parallels between what Adelsberg suggests and perhaps the most high-profile fusion of football, basketball and fashion: the collaboration between Paris Saint-Germain and the Jordan brand, which sits under Nike\u2019s vast umbrella.<\/p>\n
What is the value for Antetokounmpo?<\/p>\n
BlueCo regards women\u2019s football as a huge potential growth area, and feels Chelsea Women are well-positioned to help drive and benefit from that rise. If that proves the case, then they, Ohanian, Antetokounmpo and any other investors who come aboard stand to benefit financially.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo\u2019s motivations are partly personal and partly business-minded.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always wanted to invest in sports, and the moment I was able to make a good living and I started to get involved with business, I was like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019d be wonderful for me to be involved with a team\u2019,\u201d he tells The Athletic.<\/p>\n
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\n (Patrick McDermott\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love sports in general. It doesn\u2019t have to always be basketball. Growing up, I played every sport. The only thing that I wasn\u2019t good at was swimming \u2014 I can\u2019t swim. But I played everything. Volleyball, I was good at. Track and field, I was good at. Basketball, I was good at. Soccer, I was really good at. I can\u2019t golf, but I still invested in a golf team. I just love being around sports, and I can see myself doing that when I retire.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve also met and been around people who helped me make possible decisions about business, and mentored me throughout the little time I have in the offseason to make the best decisions that I can and use my brand as currency, which at first I didn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as I\u2019ve got older and as I retire, my brand is currency. Me being involved with things can push the business forward and also can move the needle for a lot of people, and that\u2019s very valuable in business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Have other U.S. sports stars done this with football clubs?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo cited James\u2019 investment in current Premier League champions Liverpool and their NBA counterpart Kevin Durant\u2019s purchase of a minority stake in PSG, who won last season\u2019s UEFA Champions League, as helping to open his eyes to the possibilities of investing in the sport, but the presence of elite America-based athletes within the ownership groups of European clubs is becoming more common.<\/p>\n
The 49ers Enterprises group that owns Leeds United includes another NBA star in Russell Westbrook, as well as golf Major winners Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas and swimming great Michael Phelps. Legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady has been a very visible minority shareholder at Birmingham City.<\/p>\n
Chelsea Women are not even Antetokounmpo\u2019s first foray into football ownership. In 2023, he became a minority investor in Major League Soccer club Nashville SC, along with his brothers Thanasis, Kostas and Alex.<\/p>\n
Will Antetokounmpo be a visible ownership presence at Chelsea Women?<\/p>\n
The NBA regular season schedule is unrelenting from October to April each year, and the play-offs to decide its champions stretch into June, after the European club football season ends. But the Bucks are currently facing an uphill battle to make those play-offs, and Antetokounmpo is eager to introduce himself personally this summer, telling The Athletic: \u201cThis is probably the only off-season that I\u2019m going to have that I\u2019ll be able to probably go out there and be around the team, meet the players, meet the staff and see what it\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In the meantime, as they seek to overcome this season\u2019s disappointments and face relinquishing the WSL title they have won eight times since 2015 and in each of the past six years, Chelsea Women might find inspiration in Antetokounmpo\u2019s words after he and the top-seeded Bucks were eliminated in the first round of the 2023 NBA play-offs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a failure; it\u2019s steps to success. There\u2019s no failure in sports,\u201d he insisted. \u201cThere are good days, bad days. Some days, you are able to be successful; some days, you are not. Some days, it is your turn; some days, it\u2019s not. That\u2019s what sports is about. You don\u2019t always win.\u201d<\/p>\n