Footballer Jamie Vardy has admitted that a stake in US club Rochester Rhinos which he was said to have bought was in fact given to him for free.
The Leicester City striker became a co-owner of the New York outfit in 2021, when they announced that Vardy had “bought a minority stake and is excited by the prospect of being part of a journey that puts the Rhinos and Rochester back on the map”.
It was one of many deals involving famous athletes and lesser-known brands designed in part to raise both of their profiles in the business world.
But the former England international has now revealed that he was given the minority stake to generate publicity for the club and attract new players.
The truth emerged as a result of a complaint by him and his wife Rebekah Vardy to the Independent Press Standards Organisation over an article in the Daily Mail last year.
The Vardys argued that the story was inaccurate because it said he had made “a significant investment” in the Rochester Rhinos who had since “gone bust”.
“They said while Mr Vardy had made a few visits to the club to “show his face”, he had made no financial investment in the club,” the Ipso ruling said.
“They said his minority stakeholder status was given so the club could say he was involved, which would make it “easier for the club to attract new players” in the “notoriously difficult landscape” of the league the club played in.”
The Vardys also said that the Rhinos had not “gone bust” because the club still existed and owned the franchise, although it had no senior team due to “financial reasons”.
The Daily Mail did not accept that the “significant investment” claim was inaccurate as it did not necessarily need to be monetary and the club had billed the stake as being paid for, but it offered to publish corrections.
Ipso found that the Mail had taken sufficient care not to print inaccurate claims but that, since the article reported it in the context of the couple’s finances, it needed correcting.
It ruled that it was not required to decide on whether Rochester Rhinos had gone bust as the club itself had not complained.
Rebekah Vardy is best known for her “Wagatha Christie” dispute with Coleen Rooney, wife of Vardy’s former England teammate Wayne Rooney.
In 2022 she lost a High Court libel action against Rooney after a judge ruled it was “substantially true” that Vardy had leaked private information to the press.
Vardy was also ordered to pay most of Rooney’s legal costs and returned to court in October to dispute the total of £1.8m.