With A$AP Rocky’s reported interest in becoming a football club owner, we take a look at the artist’s plentiful history in the beautiful game.
Rapper, fashion designer, and now… soccer team owner?
A$AP Rocky is reported to be part of an ownership group investing in Tranmere Rovers FC, a football club currently competing in England’s League Two. The Sun reports that the group, which includes Rocky’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, will get an 80% stake in the club for £15 million, or about $19.5 million.
If Tacopina’s name rings a bell, he’s had his hand in several football clubs, serving on the board and/or ownership groups of clubs like AS Roma, Bologna, Venezia FC, and SPAL, where he is currently the club’s chairman.
On the other hand, this would be Rocky’s first venture into team ownership, although he’s far from green when it comes to branding partnerships. Flacko always brings his unique whimsical flair to his projects, whether it’s surrealism to Formula 1 merchandise with PUMA or New York street style to the runways of Paris Fashion Week for his AWGE show. He even reportedly redesigned the prison uniforms for inmates at the Swedish prison where he was held in 2019. We never got to see those designs, but we’re sure they were fly.
While he’s admittedly never been great at sports, Rocky has dabbled in the extracurriculars. There’s the aforementioned F1 x PUMA collection, and he was also front row when his megawatt other half, Rihanna, performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, rocking a custom Jeff Hamilton jacket that had everyone oooh-ing and ahh-ing.
Now, the artist, born Rakim Mayers, is looking to spread his influence onto a football club. We’ve seen celebrity investment across all sports in addition to football, with varying levels of success. In the United States, LAFC hit the ground running with their cadre of A-list investors ranging from Magic Johnson to Will Ferrell. Stadium roommates (and now partners) Angel City FC followed a similar blueprint, bringing on a handful of former United States women’s national team icons on board, in addition to Hollywood stars like Natalie Portman, Jennifer Garner, and Eva Longoria.
To briefly scratch the surface in Europe, LeBron James has a minority stake in Liverpool, Michael B. Jordan is part of Bournemouth’s ownership group, even helping design a fantastic set of kits, and Drake is part of an investor group of Venezia.
Perhaps the first team that comes to mind when thinking of celebrity ownership, however, is Wrexham AFC. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s takeover of the club became a sensation in the U.S. and abroad. Current Tranmere Rovers FC owner Mark Palios pointed to that success as an example of what an American pop culture figure can bring to the sport.
“As soon as you bring celebrities to the club, then lots of things can happen,” Palios told Sky Sports.
Rocky’s assault case involving A$AP Relli has been postponed until next year, and Palios said he couldn’t name individuals involved in the investment deal yet, but he cheekily said the timeline to finalize it was “ASAP.”
To get prepared for the possible deal, let’s take a look back at A$AP Rocky’s frequent involvement in soccer culture.
A$AP Rocky x Odell Beckham Jr.’s FIFA 19 World Tour Promo
A$AP Rocky and NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. teamed up to promote FIFA 19. They faced off against each other in the game’s No Rules mode, and the rapper got beat pretty badly. He discussed how both he and OBJ are pretty boys who bring self-expression to their respective industries. The Super Bowl champion has more direct ties to the beautiful game and even talked about having David Alaba and his Bayern Munich teammates over to play FIFA. But it’s evident Rocky enjoyed the competition too.
A$AP Rocky Wears Custom Three Lions Kit in “RIOT” Video
A$AP Rocky is known just as much for his style as for his music. His biggest football fashion statement to date is probably rocking a customized 2006 England national team kit in his video for “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n).”
The Umbro shirt features an aftermarket “Human Rights 2022” graphic across the chest, as well as a FIFA diss on the left shoulder, in reference to the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which featured plenty of protests and controversy surrounding human rights conditions of migrant workers who built stadiums in preparation for the tournament.
Rocky paired the custom shirt with an American flag head wrap, chunky rings, and painted nails. He topped it off with a L’Epée 1839 x Alex Moss EXO GRENADE pendant to take it to that ultra luxe level.
EA Sports FC 25 Soundtrack
A$AP Rocky has been on many video game soundtracks, including for Madden and Grand Theft Auto. But this year is his first appearance on the FIFA EA Sports FC soundtrack. Rocky is featured on “Gangsta,” a groovy song by the Free Nationals with Anderson .Paak. He utilizes his too-cool-for-school flow and the video is really fun. Each artist is represented by kids, and Rocky’s mini me is wearing a squeaky clean suit and revives the Babushka Boi character.
A$AP Rocky Dons Multiple Kits in “D.M.B.” Video
A$AP Rocky really embraced football fashion in his “D.M.B.” video, which is a declaration of his love for Rihanna. In one of the scenes in a hair salon, he’s wearing a throwback 1990s Eric Cantona Manchester United kit. The red jersey is an iconic design, and Rocky’s has been bedazzled to give it that extra drip. In another scene, he’s wearing a long sleeve kit from Greek lifestyle brand Serapis. It’s a playful lavender color and has the phrase “Go With Confidence,” which pretty much sums up A$AP Rocky.
