Maxi Lopez, new owner of Birmingham City

Former Barcelona forward Maxi Lopez is now the proud owner of historic English club Birmingham City. In doing so he becomes the first Argentine to own an English club.

Birmingham City is one of England's longest established football clubs, having won the League Cup twice (1962-63 and 2010-11). However, they have now gone 12 consecutive seasons without promotion to the Premier League.

The shares that Paul Suen, the previous owner of the club, put on the market were bought by the investment group which Maxi Lopez is part of.

According to the Daily Mirror, the price is 30 million pounds, which would be about 37 million dollars.

However, it should be borne in mind that the current situation of the team is not the most favourable, as last season the team was on the verge of relegation.

Big personalities in the deal

In addition to Maxi Lopez, there are other high calibre personalities within the deal, such as businessman Christian Codoma, owner of Maxco Capital and director of Global Stars Management.

Then there is Paul Richardson, a well-known Birmingham supporter, former director of Gymshark and owner of Hera London.

According to the Birmingham Mail, the final sum of the deal is in the region of 50 million euros.

"Do something right before you go," was the message from fans to the new owners on a banner displayed during the defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

In response, Richardson posted a message on social media which read: "Maxi Lopez and I would like to thank all the Blues fans for their huge show of support yesterday for our bid to get our club back".

Lopez, for his part, has tweeted a video from inside the stadium, with the simple caption "at home."