Louis-Dreyfus is no stranger to the football industry. At the time of his birth in December 1996, his father Robert was already the majority shareholder in leading French club Marseille. Mother Margarita, assumed control when widowed in 2009 before eventually selling to US businessman Frank McCourt seven years later. The family retained a five per cent stake.
Robert Louis-Dreyfus also held a shareholding in Belgian club Standard Liege but it was Marseille who commanded son Kyril’s passion. As previously reported by The Athletic, Louis-Dreyfus spent internships working at the club’s training ground and travelled extensively with the team, chaperoned by president Vincent Labrune. Educated in Geneva, Louis-Dreyfus had enough talent to spend time in the academy of Grasshoppers Zurich and then juggled his passions when attending the Leeds campus of RIASA (the Richmond International Academic & Soccer Academy) in 2017. Staff there recalled Louis-Dreyfus fondly.
“If we all play our parts, I firmly believe we can restore Sunderland AFC to the top tier of English football and I can’t wait to get started,” Louis-Dreyfus said on Christmas Eve. But in an interview in French newspaper L’Equipe published two days later, he sounded as if there had been some persuasion before excitement kicked in.
“Following the sale of OM (Marseille) I stuck to one idea: we don’t do anything in football anymore, it’s a rotten business,” Louis-Dreyfus said, “but Sunderland, this is a special project, really.
“The potential is in England. The fervour of the people is reminiscent of that of Marseille. In D3 (League One), before the health crisis, there were more spectators on average than in half of the Premier League clubs. You can’t buy this. In cities like Zurich, Monaco, nobody is interested in football, it limits the possibilities of expansion.”