INEOS confirmed that it has purchased Swiss Super League side FC Lausanne-Sport.

The company said it backs the club’s manager, Fabio Celestini, and his coaching staff. FC Lausanne-Sport is currently in sixth place.

The move comes after many years of investment by INEOS in youth and community sports in Canton Vaud where the company has the headquarters of many of its businesses.

When INEOS first located its office in Rolle in 2010, it began to build close links to the community near to its offices in Canton Vaud and Lausanne. Part of this ambition was reflected in its sponsorship of Lausanne Hockey Club (LHC) which helped the club to reach its goal of moving from Series B to Series A. INEOS also encouraged investment in the academy structure of L4C (The youth teams for LHC) to give opportunity to younger players.

INEOS is finalizing plans to establish two African Football Academies, one in Botswana and the other in Namibia. These will enable the development of local junior players between the ages of 12 and 18, with the better players being given the opportunity at the ages of 17-18 to move to Lausanne and join the Team Vaud academy for two years. Discussions are well underway with the Botswanan and Namibian Governments and FAs, all of whom are fully supportive of the project.

INEOS believes that Lausanne Sport has the potential to develop to the top of the Swiss league. 

“Working in close partnership with the management team behind Lausanne Hockey Club, we have helped achieve its goal of moving from Series B to Series A,” said David Thompson, CEO of INEOS Football SA. “We think that the same potential exists for FC Lausanne-Sport and its junior teams. We see no reason why in time they should not qualify for European football (soccer) providing a golden opportunity to help develop junior players from the local area and from our new academy program in Africa.”

The deal is now subject to approval by the Swiss Football League. This process can take between two to four weeks.