27 October: INEOS has put Swiss Super League club FC Lausanne-Sport up for sale, the latest step in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s exit from his multi-sport empire.
The company bought Lausanne in November 2017, when its global headquarters were in the city. It was the first piece of a portfolio that grew to include cycling, Formula 1, football, rugby union and sailing.
This portfolio is now shrinking. In 2025, INEOS ended sponsorship deals with the All Blacks and Tottenham and acrimoniously parted ways with Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup side. He has also put OGC Nice on the market, where he has had to slash his €250m asking price amid fan hostility towards Ratcliffe.
Alvarez & Marsal are organizing the sale of Lausanne and have sent potential buyers a five-page prospectus, titled “Project Striker”, seen by The Athletic. He describes Lausanne as “an established top contender” in a 12-team league with “only two historically dominant clubs”, Basel and Young Boys, “both of whom have struggled recently”. The suggestion is an easier route to Europe, although Lausanne has only qualified once for INEOS.
The document highlights “a unique infrastructure set-up” and “an asset-light model”, a generous description of a club that rents its stadium and training ground from the council. It makes no mention of losses expected to reach £5m this season, or that Lausanne are bottom of the league. Relegation would be the club’s third under INEOS, along with two promotions.
INEOS faces rising European energy costs and US tariffs, and its debts have reached £18bn. At Manchester United, where Ratcliffe owns almost 29% and runs the football operations, criticism has grown over the results and over INEOS backing the Glazers.
Selling Lausanne will barely register for a £37bn business with 23,000 employees. But alongside recent sales of Belstaff and its cleaning products brand, it points to a company refocusing on core assets.
INEOS declined to comment.