EBRD supports R-Gol’s expansion into western Europe and United States

• In 2023, R-Gol was the top football goods e-retailer in central and eastern Europe and was ranked fifth in Europe. It sold professional and semi-professional sports gear, textiles, boots and equipment to football clubs and football enthusiasts, offering products from top-tier brands such as Nike and Adidas through its business-to-consumer e-commerce, franchise, business-to-business and offline retail channels.

In 2024, the EBRD provided the company with financing through a capital increase aimed at the acquisition of Denmark-based Unisport Holding. At that time, Unisport was the largest Scandinavian e-retailer of football goods and the third largest in Europe, focusing mainly on e-commerce, with only limited offline and business-to-business operations. The merger of R-Gol and Unisport aimed to position the combined entity as the number one player in e-commerce, significantly enhancing market reach and operational strength. The combined entity would (i) leverage complementary geographical footprints and distribution competences, enhancing its omnichannel retail strategy, and (ii) create opportunities for significant cost synergies. R-Gol’s strength in retail and football club sales in Poland and other central and eastern European countries, combined with Unisport’s e-commerce and digital marketing expertise in Nordic economies, German-speaking countries and France, would offer a multi-faceted growth platform.

In 2025, the company’s management and existing shareholders took a strategic decision to enter the US market ahead of the upcoming 2026 World Cup in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. This acquisition of a US entity, Arocam Sports, will transform R-Gol/Unisport into a truly global player. Operating on a larger scale will create procurement synergies through combined purchasing power. It will also raise the attractiveness of the group entity for future buyers through increases in scale and greater exposure to major football markets.

The EBRD nominated a non-executive director to sit on R-Gol’s board and support the creation of value. The Bank’s extensive network of experts enabled it to identify a highly experienced professional specialising in sports retail. We believe that adding this expertise to the board will support R-Gol’s transformation into a truly global player.

When taking an equity stake in a local company that is pursuing global expansion, we see our role as bringing international expertise to the business to help it successfully compete with well-established global peers.

The EBRD’s decision to participate in the capital increase for R-Gol was a strong show of confidence in the company’s growth potential. This helped to mobilise additional investment from a number of other established investors and private equity firms in support of R-Gol’s long-term development.

The EBRD’s equity investment seeks to contribute to the increased availability of private equity financing in the region, thereby promoting private and entrepreneurial initiative and fostering consolidation in fragmented markets.

This project is consistent with the EBRD’s ICT Sector Strategy, which states that the Bank will focus on fostering innovation and technology penetration by investing in a broad range of IT-related companies, including e-commerce. The project is also fully aligned with the mitigation and adaptation goals of the Paris Agreement.