Pure Play in Soccer: Hedge Fund Invests In Portuguese Stars

From today's WSJ: LISBON -- Nuno Goncalves is pulling hard for Portugal in the World Cup, but with more reason than most of his countrymen. The Lisbon- based hedge-fund manager has an investment in Ricardo Costa, a 25- year-old defender on Portugal's team. The 33-year-old Mr. Goncalves, who runs three funds with about $14 million of investments for Football Players Funds Management Ltd., buys and sells interests in the rights to soccer players from Europe, Brazil and elsewhere. When one of his 15 players excels, and a wealthy franchise makes a bid for him, Mr. Goncalves's firm shares in the profits from the deal. Read the whole article HERE.

And read a related article from the WSJ on scoring last-minute World Cup tickets HERE.