Critically they have deep pockets, and seem driven to get the stadium built.
Sounds more like they are real estate moguls, the football secondary.
But hey if it works for the club and the wider Western Melbourne community so be it. Again it's a large popn growth corridor, and you also have Geelong (popn 275K) just down the road.
https://aleagues.com.au/news/who-are-western-united-new-owners-kaminski-background-details-plans/
Code Sports reports the investment is worth $100 million and is ‘believed to be the richest deal in Australian sporting history’ with big plans in the works for the future of the club.
Sounds more like they are real estate moguls, the football secondary.
But hey if it works for the club and the wider Western Melbourne community so be it. Again it's a large popn growth corridor, and you also have Geelong (popn 275K) just down the road.
https://aleagues.com.au/news/who-are-western-united-new-owners-kaminski-background-details-plans/
Code Sports reports the investment is worth $100 million and is ‘believed to be the richest deal in Australian sporting history’ with big plans in the works for the future of the club.
Inaugural owners Western Melbourne Group embarked on an ambitious vision in 2019 to build a dynamic sport-driven retail and residential precinct, with a 15,000-seat stadium to be the centre-piece of the project in partnership with Wyndham City Council.
The club’s new owners will now work to turn that vision into reality and have also announced an intention to form a ‘wider football-focused multi-club international strategy, providing elite pathways for Australian footballers in the coming years’.
Meet Western United’s new owners: Maciek and Mikhail Kaminski
KAM Sports is led by father-son duo Maciek and Mikhail Kaminski.
Maciek, born in Poland in 1958, has a net worth estimated at over $1 billion, with the duo’s wealth largely coming from real estate.
They were reportedly in negotiations to buy Premier League club Everton in 2021 and Belgian top-flight outfit KV Kortrijk in 2023, but those deals fell through, leading to the investment in Western United which looks set to be the start of something bigger.
Maciek’s son Mikhail serves as CEO of KAM Sports. He has no plans to relocate to Melbourne any time soon, but told Code Sports he will be hands-on in the club.
“[WMG] has something that we feel we can really bring a lot of value to — involving the real estate, the development and the rest of that,” Mikhail Kaminski told ESPN.
“It’s very interesting, when you talk about those big projects, all of the fans really want to hear about [is] what’s going on with the club.
“Obviously, that’s important, but for us here, it’s the infrastructure play and bringing our historical [knowledge], where we made our family money, to bear, and getting this project moving and getting the stadium built. That’s really what drove us to this project.
“[The stadium is] priority one, number two and number three, frankly, to get shovels in the dirt, to get a stadium that WMG promised to the community. That’s where we are going to take the first steps to focus on and get that started.
“Our background is in real estate and real estate development so for us this was really a real estate play,” Mikhail told Code Sports.
This deal does not just see the Kaminskis purchase Western United, but also comes with an 800-home property development and the promise of a 15,000 seat stadium.
When completed, Western will become the first A-Leagues side to own their stadium.
“Making sure the stadium is built and working with Wyndham City Council is our number one priority,” Mikhail added.
“After a 12-month due diligence process and multiple visits to Melbourne, we are delighted to inject our capital, expertise and passion into Western Melbourne Group and its related entities,” said Maciek (MG) Kaminski.
“After a 12-month due diligence process and multiple visits to Melbourne, we are delighted to inject our capital, expertise and passion into Western Melbourne Group and its related entities,” said Maciek (MG) Kaminski.