Alexey Fedorychev: Monaco's owner lays down his plans for investing in basketball / News - Basketnews.com

After a multi-year engagement with football clubs, AS Monaco's owner Alexey Fedorychev plans on investing heavily in French basketball and the EuroLeague. In an interview with L'Equipe, the businessman talked about his ambitions.

Credit: AS Monaco- Direction de la Communication / Manuel Vitali Credit AS Monaco- Direction de la Communication / Manuel Vitali

Having taken over the presidency of AS Monaco at the beginning of 2022, Alexey Fedorychev also made the decision to raise the club's budget by 47%, to over €20 million.

It's an amount that should allow the 2021 EuroCup winners to shine in the EuroLeague but also stimulate the interest of spectators for the platform that the Russian-born businessman recently launched through his company, Fedcom Media. It's called Skweek and will broadcast both EuroLeague and EuroCup matches.

"You can't make a good product without good players," summarizes Fedorychev talking to Francois-Guillaume Lemouton from L'Equipe.

Settled in Monaco in the early 1990s, the businessman took his first steps in sports by displaying the name of his company, Fedcom, on the jerseys of AS Monaco's football team.

In 2002, he was very close to taking over as club owner when Monaco were in great financial difficulty.

But the origin of his fortune was a cause for concern for the palace. Thus, Prince Rainier supported a scheme brought by Monegasque investors, pending the outcome of a preliminary investigation ordered by the Monaco prosecutor's office.

Two years later, Fedorychev was called to the aid of Dinamo Moscow when the club's patron, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was sentenced to jail. In a bold move, he bought the broadcasting and sponsorship rights of the French league. The venture was cut short by his legal conflict with the Russian league.

In just one year, starting from scratch, Fedcom Media made it possible to produce 242 matches broadcast on two channels in Russia. For next season, 450 European basketball games are scheduled to be broadcast on the Skweek platform.

To avoid any pitfalls, Fedorychev says he met "all the presidents of the EuroLeague clubs, one by one."

"In sports, either you are inside and involved, or you stay outside and spend money for nothing. I am not only interested in EuroLeague's rights in France, but I am also looking at the possibilities of investing in French basketball," he emphasizes.

Credit AS Monaco/Direction de la Communication

But the 67-year-old businessman, with an estimated net worth of $1 billion, hopes to expand his new platform to other markets outside France or turn AS Monaco into a EuroLeague shareholder.

Fedorychev attended the final phase of the EuroBasket in Berlin, where he took the opportunity to discuss with Jean-Pierre Siutat, the president of the French Federation.

Very invested in the Ukrainian market, where he owns port infrastructures, Fedorychev is not one of the businessmen sanctioned by the European Union because of their links with Russia, unlike Roman Abramovich, who was forced to sell Chelsea football club last May.

"I don't do politics. I never liked that. My first interest has always been my family," assures the man who welcomed several hundred refugees after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

If the decision of the EuroLeague to exclude Russian clubs reduces the quality of the competition for which he has purchased the rights, the Fedcom boss cautiously stands behind the rule enacted by most sports bodies.

"It was not the EuroLeague that decided, it was the world of sports. We have to respect the rule," he points out.

To lead his new project in basketball, Fedorychev relies on Oleg Petrov, former vice-president of AS Monaco. They met while the latter was working for Uralkali, the former company of Dimitri Rybolovlev, the current owner of the Principality's football club.

"Mr. Alexey Fedorychev has been a partner of the AS Monaco football club for 25 years", Petrov assures.

"Now it's basketball. Maybe we'll be there for 25 years too."

Like what we are doing? You can express your gratitude here.