Founding executive · Multi-jurisdiction · Location flexible · Reports to the Founder & CEO THE COMPANY The Football Factory (TFF) is building a new asset class: football-anchored ecosystems that integrate football, real estate and technology, natively, from day one. Our first Football Citadel is being developed near Porto, Portugal. We are closing our public crowdfunding round on Republic Europe ahead of target and preparing to launch our Series A, which will take us from a crowdfunded start-up to an institutionally backed, multi-club, multi-jurisdiction group.

We are not a multi-club ownership group in the traditional sense, and we are not a real estate developer that happens to own a football club. We are building an integrated model — club, Citadel, and technology platform — designed to be replicable across markets, and we are doing it with the rigour of an institutional business from the very first entity.

THE ROLE

We are looking for a Chief Legal Officer to build and lead the legal function of the entire group, across every jurisdiction we operate in today and every one we will operate in tomorrow. This is not a legal department to inherit — it is one to build, at the exact moment the group is scaling from a crowdfunded raise to a Series A, from one entity to a multi-jurisdiction structure, and from one Citadel to a multi-club platform.

You will report directly to the Founder & CEO and work as a true business partner to the leadership team — including the operating heads of each pillar (football, real estate, technology).

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

Group corporate structure

– Own the legal architecture and governance of our multi-entity structure: our Estonian parent company, our UK Ltd, and the Portuguese SPVs we are establishing and those we will establish in Europe as the group scales.

– Build and manage the group's external legal counsel network across jurisdictions, ensuring the right specialist expertise is deployed where required while maintaining central legal control, consistency, quality and cost discipline.





– Design and maintain the group's governance framework, board processes, and delegation of authority across entities.

– Lead on future entity formation as we expand into new markets and new Football Citadels.

Capital raising & investor relations

– Lead all legal work on our Series A, launching very soon, and on any subsequent capital raises.

– Own investor documentation: NDAs, data room governance, shareholder agreements, and cap table integrity across the group.

– Ensure full compliance with crowdfunding and securities regulation across the jurisdictions in which we raise capital (including our completed Republic Europe raise and SEIS matters).

M&A; and transactions

– Lead the legal structuring and execution of club and real estate acquisitions, including negotiation of acquisition agreements, due diligence, and closing.

– Structure the entity (existing or newly formed) through which each acquisition is executed.

Commercial and partnership agreements

– Negotiate and structure our commercial partnerships (technology licensing and revenue-share agreements, sponsorship and supply agreements, and similar arrangements) across the group.

– Manage our intellectual property portfolio, including trademark strategy and clearance across our brand architecture.

Employment and governance

– Own employment law matters across jurisdictions, including the structuring of leadership team roles and equity-based compensation.

– Act as the group's internal authority on regulatory and compliance matters, including UEFA club licensing, financial sustainability and ownership/control regulations relevant to our multi-club model.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR





– Genuine cross-border legal experience, comfortable structuring and managing entities across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously: you will run legal matters spanning Estonia, the UK and Portugal from day one, with more jurisdictions to follow.

– Real experience in corporate/M&A; law, ideally including transaction structuring, due diligence and closing.

– Experience with capital raises — equity crowdfunding, venture/growth equity, or debt capital markets — and the regulatory frameworks around them.

– The judgment and seniority to operate as a true C-suite partner to the CEO and the leadership team, not just an execution function.

– Comfort operating in a fast-moving, founder-led environment where the legal function is being built in real time alongside the business.

– Fluent English is essential; Portuguese and/or Italian are strong advantages, with additional European languages considered a plus.

COMPENSATION

This is a founding-team role, and the compensation structure reflects that. For this initial phase, compensation is structured in equity in the group. Following the successful close of our Series A — expected within the next few months — the role transitions to a full market-standard cash salary, in addition to the equity already earned.

We are looking for someone who views this as genuine founding ownership: meaningful equity participation from day one, with market-standard cash compensation commencing following the successful close of the Series A.

WHY THIS ROLE

This is a founding-executive seat, not a functional hire. The legal architecture you build in the next twelve months — across Estonia, the UK, Portugal and beyond — will be the foundation the entire group scales on, through the Series A and the multi-club expansion that follows. If you want to build a legal function from its first stone, rather than manage one that already exists, this is that seat.

The Football Factory — Stone by stone.

📌 Chief Legal O. (Italia)
🏢 The Football Factory
📍 Italia