Women’s soccer-focused investment group Mercury13 has expanded its presence in the European game, acquiring a majority stake in English second-tier side Bristol City Women.
The group, led by Victoire Cogevina Reynal and Mario Malave, has acquired the stake from the Lansdown family, which also owns the Bristol City men’s side, the Bristol Bears rugby union club, and the Bristol Flyers basketball team via the Bristol Sport company.
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Bristol Sport, led by Stephen Lansdown, will retain a minority stake in the women’s team while Bristol Sport chief executive Gavin Marshall, the chair of Bristol City Women, led the acquisition process.
Other prominent investors behind Mercury13 include Italian soccer legend Giorgio Chiellini, Spanish star Juan Mata former England international Eniola Aluko, former FIFA chief innovation officer Luis Vicente, and prominent UK businessman Sir Martin Broughton, among others.
On the logic behind the acquisition, Mercury13 chief strategy officer Hannah Hayes said: “We are proud to have reached this agreement between the many stakeholders and are committed to driving the growth of this distinctive and ambitious club during a pivotal time for women’s football in England.
“Working closely with the wider ecosystem —from broadcasters to commercial partners—we aim to build on strong foundations, enhance the matchday experience and establish the club as a competitive force and a household fixture in the South West.”
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By GlobalDataGoing forward, the women’s team will continue to play matches at the Ashton Lane stadium and will continue to train at the Robins High Performance Center, owing to a “long-term agreement” between Mercury13 and Bristol Sport.
Although Lansdown has also said that the men’s side may also be sold at some point in the future, it is unknown how any potential sale would affect that agreement.
Mercury13 first entered the soccer ownership space with the acquisition of Italian Serie A side FC Como Women in March 2024.
Since then, the business has expanded, the group attracting investment from The Avenue Sports Fund, at which point it identified England as the destination for its next purchase.
Mercury 13 had initially planned to make Lewes, a club competing in the second tier of the English women’s soccer pyramid, their opening club purchase late in 2023. However, talks came to an amicable halt in November over Mercury 13’s plans to only invest in the women’s side – Lewes also has a non-league men’s team at the club.
In terms of recent activity, back in June, the group appointed the Wasserman agency as its global rights sales partner.
Wasserman – and in particular its women's sport-focused advisory business, The Collective – acts as the exclusive worldwide commercial sales agency for FC Como Women, and may now expand its duties to Bristol City Women also.
Bristol City Women are currently competing in their first season back in the WSL 2 second-tier competition, having been relegated from the top flight at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
When it launched in early 2023, Mercury/13 announced its intention to eventually spend $100 million in buying up women’s soccer clubs from Europe and Latin America.
It is understood that Mercury/13 would like to own one club from each of the main four women’s leagues across Europe, as a final point.
