Alexandre "Sacha" Gaydamak ( he, אלכסנדר גאידמק, born May 1976 in France) is a French and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i businessman. A member of the wealthy Gaydamak family, he is the only son of Arcadi Gaydamak. In January 2006 he announced that he was following his father into

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club ownership by becoming co-owner of

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club Portsmouth F.C. with

Milan Mandarić Milan Mandarić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Мандарић; born 5 September 1938) is a Serbian-American businessman who has owned a string of businesses and association football clubs, including Portsmouth, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday. H ...

. His father was the owner of Israeli side

Beitar Jerusalem Beitar Jerusalem Football Club ( he, מועדון כדורגל בית"ר ירושלים, Moadon Kaduregel Beitar Yerushalayim), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply as Beitar (), is an Israeli football club based in the city of Je ...

. In July 2006 Alexandre Gaydamak became the sole owner of Portsmouth, although Mandarić remained at the club as non-executive chairman until later that year. Gaydamak owns a

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

-based company, Belvia SARL and a

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

company, Devondale Investments, which owned Portsmouth F.C. On 21 July 2009, Gaydamak agreed to sell Portsmouth F.C. to Sulaiman Al Fahim in principle, and therefore stepped down from the board. He remained the owner of the club until the details of the sale had been finalised on 8 June 2009. Gaydamak has been alleged to have asset stripped Portsmouth F.C. before this sale and yet still retains a claim, said to be £32,000,000, against the club as a creditor despite the huge debts at the club. Investigations into these allegations are ongoing. On 22 October 2010 Gaydamak's business acumen came into question after reports of him demanding a payment from his former club Portsmouth for an apparent £2.5million. It seems that he was unsure that his unpaid debt would be repaid. The case was made more embarrassing after Portsmouth F.C. had received confirmation several times from Gaydamak himself that the terms were agreed and that he was a secured creditor meaning that not only would be paid in full, but he would also be paid before many unsecured creditors who are set to only receive 20% of any debt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaydamak, Alexandre 1976 births 21st-century French Jews Living people Beitar Jerusalem F.C. French chief executives French football chairmen and investors French people of Russian-Jewish descent Israeli chief executives Israeli football chairmen and investors Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Portsmouth F.C. directors and chairmen