Football clubs reportedly looking at Fnatic buyout

26 May 2026

For years now, Fnatic has been a major name and trendsetter in the world of esports in the UK and beyond. Since 2004, the London-based organisation competed in various titles and racked up the trophies as well as the prize money, and that might just have attracted some attention. Not from competitors, mind you, but from at least two professional football clubs. Or at least, that is the rumour that is currently circulating, after Fnatic recently indicated that they might be interested in selling some or even all of the ownership.

Fnatic buyout rumours

It should be noted that, as of this moment, it is all just rumours. Rumours from various generally reputable sources, absolutely, but rumours, nonetheless. Fnatic have not confirmed or denied anything, while we have no knowledge of any football club that has recently expressed an explicit interest in acquiring (part of) the organisation.

Having said that, various well-known streamers and esports personalities have recently stated that negotiations between Fnatic and at least two football clubs are ongoing as we write this. On May 18th, for example, the Spanish podcaster Al Lío posted a clip in which he announces that Fnatic will not be making moves during the offseason, and that this is the result of meetings with two football clubs. He does not name any clubs by name, though.

Ongoing negotiations

Fnatic did not react to the Al Lío clip, but a day later, well-known French esports personality and businessman Tom Varizan picked it up. More than that, he confirmed the scoop and expanded on it, writing on X that negotiations between Fnatic and two football clubs were ongoing, of which one German club. Like Al Lío though, Varizan did not name any names.
“The negotiations for the sale of Fnatic have started”, Varizan writes on his own X account, “The two potential buyers are 2 football clubs, of which one German club. This would explain the current inactivity at Fnatic, as the organisation is busy negotiating the sale of its shares. As a reminder, back at the end of 2025, the organisation was already exploring options of a sale (for around $ 100 million).”

Historic value

This year, Fnatic carries full teams in five popular esports titles: Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Rainbow 6 Siege and VALORANT. That is considerable for an esports organisation, especially when you consider that Fnatic is a respected name in each of those titles, but there is more. On social media, the organisation has millions of fans and followers, spread over various platforms. On X (formerly Twitter), for example, Fnatic has more than 1,6 million followers at the time of writing, while they have more than 1 million followers on Instagram. When it comes to YouTube, they can count on no less than 700.000 subscribers.

Combine all that with the historic value of Fnatic as one of the biggest and best-known esports organisations in the world, and you understand why they could be considering a sale at the moment. It is perhaps the perfect moment to cash in on all the hard work, though as we said before, it is all still rumours for now.