Stormzy signs deal to buy Croydon Athletic Football Club

Stormzy has signed a takeover deal with three-man consortium, including Crystal Palace forward Wilfred Zaha and Danny Young, for joint ownership of Croydon Athletic Football Club.

In a tweet posted by the football club this morning, it revealed that it is “delighted to embark on a new era at AFC Croydon Athletic, subject to final FA and league approval. This has been the culmination of many months of discussions.”

The group are “excited to take the entire community on this exciting journey with them,” according to a statement.

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AFC Croydon Athletic are a non-league football team based in South London and operate within the ninth tier division of English football.

The trio are allegedly hoping to raise the team from the Combined Counties League Premier Division south once the season commences further into the summer.

Both Stormzy and Wilfred Zaha grew up in the South London borough, just a few minutes away from the club’s Mayfield Stadium in Thornton Heath, with Zaha sharing a tweet earlier today that read “May the journey begin”.

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A statement released in the tweet made by the club disclosed that “ A three person consortium comprised of Wilfred Zaha, Stormzy and Danny Young has exchanged contracts with the existing ownership of croydon athletic to acquire the assets of the club.”

“The consortium will own, operate and develop their childhood hometown football club”

The statement continued by saying that though “completion is subject to legislative and governance procedures, the three consortium members are excited about developing a community asset in the borough that gave them their own opportunities.”

According to a close source to Zaha, this comes as part of efforts to “do what’s right for the local community by giving some of them another chance at a lower level.”

Tiffany Ibe is Mixmags Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram