Charlton Athletic put up for sale by US owners after three years

Charlton’s US owners have put the club up for sale just three years after taking over at the Valley. The ownership group is understood to have engaged Oakwell Sports Advisory to find what would be the club’s fifth owner in the past six years.

In a sales deck sent to potential investors, which has been seen by the Guardian, Oakwell describes Charlton as “the last remaining football club upside opportunity in London”. Oakwell also claims that Charlton would provide new owners with an opportunity for five to 10 times equity growth through promotion to the Premier League, commercial expansion and investment in women’s football.

Oakwell did the deal that led to the Bournemouth owner, Bill Foley, buying the Prem rugby club Exeter Chiefs this summer, and is helping the Rugby Football League to secure external investment.

Charlton’s location in south-east London is a plus, while the Valley is a modern stadium with a capacity of 27,000, but the club do not own the ground, which belongs to the hated former owner Roland Duchâtelet. Having considered looking at alternative sites, last year Charlton extended the lease on the Valley until 2040.

Charlton have repeatedly changed hands since the fans forced out Duchâtelet in 2020, when the club had three owners in quick succession. Duchâtelet sold Charlton to East Street Investments for just £1 in January 2020, but the consortium led initially by the former football agent Matt Southall collapsed amid in‑fighting and an acrimonious court case, with the club eventually bought by the Danish-American business Thomas Sandgaard later that year. In 2023, Sandgaard sold Charlton to a group of five US investors called Global Football Partners (GFP) led by Gabriel Brener via their UK subsidiary, SE7 Partners.

Under GFP, Charlton returned to the Championship for the first time in five years in 2025 by winning the League One playoff final at Wembley, while the women’s team were promoted to WSL1 last season.