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Football Federation Australia coffers are about to get a $10 million boost through the sale of Western Sydney Wanderers, and all A-League clubs will get a share, FFA supremo Frank Lowy says.
The long-awaited deal means ownership of the club will pass to a consortium chaired by Primo Smallgoods businessman Paul Lederer.
Lederer will be joined by Pirtek founder Peter Duncan, Filipino-Chinese businessman Jefferson Cheng and a fourth investor who Lowy confirmed would be David Slade, who is a family friend of the FFA chairman and a partner in British fashion outlet Topshop-Topman.
The FFA, which started the Wanderers with the help of $4 million in federal funding almost two years ago, has been eager to sell the club.
While Lowy called the Wanderers “a good investment”, the amount of money the FFA poured into the club is not known.
Lowy would not disclose what revenue the governing body was expected to make, but he confirmed A-League clubs would get a share.
“The new people who are coming in are very experienced in running the club,” Lowy said.
“I think we’ll get around $10 million or so (for the sale).
“I don’t dare to tell you (the expected surplus). We don’t have the final result and I don’t like to talk before then, but we’ll be sharing some of the surplus with the clubs.
Asked what other areas the money would be allocated to, Lowy simply said: “The whole of the game will benefit from this.”
Reports have said the new owners won’t take over until June 30, after the A-League season.
But Lowy dismissed those reports, saying they will take over as soon as the negotiations and paperwork are finalised.
Meanwhile, further allegations of corruption in the 2022 World Cup bid have emerged overnight.
Britain’s The Daily Telegraph reported that former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and his family were paid almost $US2 million from a Qatari company linked to the country’s successful bid for the World Cup.
Amid claims by FIFA it might change the showpiece event from summer to winter to avoid Qatar’s oppressive heat, Lowy has requested compensation for the $43 million spent on Australia’s failed bid.
He said on Tuesday he wasn’t surprised by the latest reports of corruption.
“I took full resistibility for our bid, but it was not a level playing field,” Lowy said.
“I said at the time this is not the last that we will hear about the bid process and never have I spoken a truer word.
“The jury is still out as to what is going to happen.
“Whether we’ll get our money back or not it’s hard to say, but I certainly put the claim in.”
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