West Ham co-owner Daniel Kretinsky has just secured instant £16m boost

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Daniel Kretinsky’s long-term ambitions at West Ham are something of a mystery, but the Czech billionaire has just secured a significant financial windfall elsewhere in football.

When Kretinsky first bought 27 per cent of West Ham for around £180m in November 2021, he included a clause that stipulated that he could take full control of the club for a set price.

However, the 49-year-old has shown no signs of activating that option, nor has he appeared to show any interest in acquiring the shares of Vanessa Gold, a chunk of which are currently for sale.

Kretinsky is admittedly preoccupied with his seismic takeover of the Royal Mail, which will set him back approximately £3.5bn and see him become one of the UK’s most scrutinised business owners.

But he seems to be content being a silent partner at West Ham, who are not the only football club in his portfolio.

Kretinsky bought his boyhood club Sparta Prague two decades ago, in which time they have won the Czech First League six times.

They have not qualified for the Champions League group stage, however, since 2005-06. Until the last few days, that is.

And the latest developments with Sparta prove that Kretinsky’s ownership could one day be an issue for West Ham.

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Kretinsky nets £16m as UEFA conflict of interest rules laid bare for West Ham

There is an argument to say that recent seasons have been the best in West Ham’s history in terms of results – and certainly in terms of their performances in European competition.

Under David Moyes, the Irons won their first ever European trophy in the Europa Conference League in 2022-23, which followed a run to the Europa League semi-finals the previous season.

In 2023-24, West Ham were only knocked out of the Europa League at the quarter-final stage by a Bayer Leverkusen side who lost one game in all competitions that campaign.

West Ham have never qualified for the Champions League, unlike Kretinsky’s Sparta Prague whose 4-0 aggregate victory over Malmo on Tuesday secured passage to the group stage.

As relayed by The Times, the expanded Champions League will be worth a bare minimum of £16m to participating teams this season.

In reality, performance bonuses and a share of the market pool and newly created value pillar means the true figure will be far higher.

The rhetoric from the West Ham board has always been that they want to see the club competing regularly in Europe, but Sparta could present an obstacle to that because of UEFA’s dual ownership rules.

UEFA is clamping down on multi-club ownership, or at least multi-club representation in its competitions.

Man United and Man City have been granted dispensation to play alongside subsidiary clubs Nice and Girona this season, but that is only a temporary reprieve.

If West Ham and Sparta Prague were ever to qualify for the same competition, it is unlikely that European football’s governing body would allow both to participate.

Kretinsky’s long-term ambitions at West Ham

Kretinsky’s investment in West Ham three years ago appraised the club somewhere £600m.

Vice-chair Karren Brady has previously valued West Ham at around £800m, which potentially illustrates that the current regime believe there is significant upside to be achieved.

However, the relatively diffuse ownership structure at the club means that the merits of controlling a minority stake for Kretinsky are not entirely clear.

The Hammers are one of only a handful of clubs in the Premier League to have more or less broken even in recent years, so it does not appear that Kretinsky has had to provide any funding.

It may be the case that he is waiting for the broader ownership picture to present itself before he makes a move, with the future status of the shares previously owned by the late David Gold yet to be resolved.