From London to Krakow: Inside Roc Nation's push to change soccer

Roc Nation GFX

From partnerships with clubs big and small to their role representing some of the game's top stars, Roc Nation is aiming to build brands in new ways all over the world.

Seven years ago, Michael Yormark sat down in a room with Roc Nation's major stakeholders. Jay-Z was there, of course. So, too were fellow Roc Nation founders Juan Perez and Desiree Perez. That group entered that room with one big question: what next? They left with an answer: soccer.

Now, on the eve of a World Cup in America, Roc Nation Sports International is doing things even Yormark may not have imagined. The organization has its hands in nearly every part of the modern soccer business. It is an agency, but also a consultant. It works with players, but also partners with some of the biggest brands in the game. It helps clubs grow off the field while expanding their reach beyond it, turning stadiums from sports venues into concert venues and back again. That is the modern game, after all. You cannot just be one thing anymore.

That is a mindset at Roc Nation, Yormark says, and that mindset helped dictate the organization's two latest swings. One comes via a partnership with one of the biggest clubs in the sport, Chelsea FC. The other? That comes alongside a club somewhat off the beaten path, Polish side KS Cracovia. In theory, there are very few common threads between the two clubs. Chelsea are a billion-dollar business regularly competing at the highest levels. KS Cracovia are a local Polish club that has not won its own league since 1948.

So what's the big picture here? Why is a company based in America partnering with clubs in Poland, London, and just about everywhere in between? Why is Roc Nation making these moves at this particular moment? Opportunity, Yormark says. The opportunity is there for anyone willing to seize it.

"I think the common thread between all these clubs is that club owners are now looking at their football clubs beyond just being football clubs," Yormark tells GOAL. "They understand these clubs are brands. They're lifestyle brands, so how do you monetize that beyond the traditional football audience? That, to me, is the secret sauce. Wrexham is doing it. Como is doing it. We hope to do it in Poland.

"Look at what PSG has done. Even on a much grander scale, they were one of the first clubs that said, 'We're not just a football brand; we're a lifestyle brand that's connected to the culture, so we think we can be bigger than a football club'. That, to me, is the trend. PSG has a store in London in the heart of the Premier League. These clubs are looking at themselves as brands, and they're going beyond traditional football. How do we create a unique experience for the casual sports fan, and how do we globalize our brands at the same time?"

It's a challenge, Yormark can admit, but one that's become even more exciting as this summer approaches. The World Cup is set to change everything, and not just in America. In Roc Nation's eyes, the sport is about to change forever, and that change will be felt everywhere a ball is kicked.

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Changing the game

Yormark can acknowledge the fact now: when he first got involved in this, he didn't know too much about soccer. That, he believes, is an advantage. Roc Nation Sports International wouldn't do things the soccer way; they'd do things their way. The hope was that their way would work, and that it would lead to opportunities that others were missing.

"I came across the pond with a suitcase and, unlike our competitors, we said we're going to start from scratch," he says. "We're not going to just buy a company, change the name and enter the football world; we're going to take our guiding principles from America that made us so successful with managing artists and athletes and apply that to the football world.

"Everyone said there was no way we could do it. Want to know what our response was? 'Watch us'."

It helped, of course, that Roc Nation entered soccer with cultural cache. Jay-Z is the face of the brand, and the company already had years of experience across American sports and music. It took big swings early, too, with Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Jerome Boateng among its first clients.

In those early days, Yormark says Roc Nation felt like a challenger brand, one that was challenging the status quo. Now, as one of the industry's biggest stakeholders, they still feel that way. They saw that same mentality in a recent opportunity, one that few could have predicted.

This picture taken on April 13, 2012 sho

Authenticity in Poland

Yormark was introduced to the city of Krakow by Robert Platek, a longtime friend. Platek acquired majority ownership of KS Cracovia in August of 2025. As part of that process, he asked Yormark to take a look. After one trip, Yormark saw the vision and how Roc Nation could shape it.

"I fell in love with it," he says. "I fell in love with the city, with the project, with the upside of the project. Polish football is moving in the right direction. When you look at the league and see how competitive it is, it's a market that we at Roc Nation Sports International found to be very interesting and very exciting. You combine that with the ambition that the club has and where they want to be in global football and the fact that they now have an incredible owner in Rob, it just seemed to be the right project for us to get involved in.

"You can feel the history of the city. It's got a real heartbeat to it. You can tell that the people who live there love their community and love being a part of it. They're proud to be a part of it, and I think that's critically important. The city has two football clubs, and it's a great rivalry, so football is a big part of the fabric of the community. You can feel it."

In April, KS Cracovia and Roc Nation Sports International formally announced their partnership. The union would be focused on storytelling, with Roc Nation helping to elevate the club's brand on a global scale. For Roc Nation, it was a chance to help build a club's international profile from the ground up with a strong local foundation. For the club, it was a chance to grow in ways that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

"When you’re within the club, you realise very quickly that Cracovia isn't just a sports team - it’s a part of people's identities," David Amdurer, Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of KS Cracovia, tells GOAL. "You see generations of families coming to the stadium; it’s a shared heritage that people carry with a lot of pride. On the ground, there’s this palpable energy right now - a mix of deep respect for our traditions and a real, buzzing excitement for the future. The fans here are fiercely loyal and they have a high standard for authenticity. They don't want us to lose our soul, and they shouldn't.

"Working within this community, you feel a responsibility to protect that 'original' spirit while opening the doors to the rest of the world. It’s a place where the past and the future are constantly combining, and seeing that transition happen in real-time - seeing the club start to find its voice in a global conversation while staying rooted in Krakow - is incredibly rewarding."

As Amdurer alluded to, the challenge is establishing that growth in the right way. It has to feel real, not manufactured, and it has to be built from the ground up. The storytelling has to be real. It can't be manufactured.

"Authenticity has become the most valuable currency in football," Amdurer says. "At Cracovia, we aren't trying to manufacture an identity to keep up with a trend; we’re leaning into a history that’s been there for over a century. What we want to be is a club that remains unapologetically original. We want to prove that you don’t have to be a megaclub to be a global brand if you have a soul and a story that people can connect with. Success for us over the next decade and beyond means becoming a culturally resonant institution."

So how do you do that? Well, as it turns out, it's multifaceted.

What's in a partnership?

Even now, in the early days of the Roc Nation-KS Cracovia union, there are certain goals. The first is to really tell the story of the club's 120th year. The aim is to amplify that, take it out of Poland and show it to the world. This is a club with history, both Yormark and Amdurer say, but it's not a history known by many outside of Krakow. How can they build interest in that history and, more importantly, how can they build interest in a club and city that is not currently one of soccer's premier destinations?

Part of that comes off the field. Naturally, Roc Nation plans to help KS Cracovia find new uses for their stadium, turning it into a concert venue that alters how the facility is used. It can be the heartbeat of the local community, yes, but also a destination that draws different types of fans to Krakow. Drawing new fans leads to commercialization. That leads to new deals, new stories, and a new profile that help lead the club onto a bigger stage.

There's an on-field aspect, too. Despite the fact that the sport is blossoming into something new culturally, there is still a central baseline of actual soccer. Roc Nation, through their agency contacts, can help with that, too.

"Africa is a big market for us," Yormark says. "We do a lot of recruiting there, and we would hope that we would have an opportunity to move some of our players in Africa to their club. We see their club as a trampoline club where young players can go and develop and move to a bigger club. Bringing in great young talent, I think it's a great opportunity for them."

In general, though, this won't be easy. It's simple to point to examples of clubs that have succeeded, like Wrexham, for example. That club was lightning in a bottle, though. It was a mix of Hollywood owners, Welsh charm, a reality show, and the right sort of storytelling. It's almost impossible to replicate, at least at that scale.

So what is success for Kracovia? It's a complicated question, but also a straightforward one. To put it simply, the club just wants to be bigger and better than it is now.

"In five years, I’d love for football fans from all parts of the world to recognize our colors, not just because of a scoreline, but because they’ve seen our stories or engaged with our content," Amdurer says. "In 10 to 20 years, success is Cracovia being a multi-purpose cultural destination. We want our stadium to be a hub for international events - music, entertainment, and sport - all while keeping that deep, local community connection that makes us who we are. We’re aiming to establish a bridge between a prestigious past and a global, modernized future."

KS Cracovia aren't the only club Roc Nation is working alongside. Mamelodi Sundowns, Como, Burnley, and Marseille are also being consulted by the organization. On Thursday, though, it was announced that the organization had just added another partner, one with a unique global reach.

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A global brand in Chelsea

If you're a fan of this sport, you're aware of Chelsea. Because of that, the work that Roc Nation does with Chelsea is nowhere near the same it will do with KS Cracovia. These are two different projects with two different aims. Both, though, have the same end goal.

While Chelsea are a global brand, the club believes there is still room for growth. Like all clubs of that size, the Blues are frequently thinking of the international market. The partnership with Roc Nation, then, is a new way to appeal to that market by placing Chelsea at the intersection of soccer, music and culture, particularly in the American market.

"Today, football fans want more from their club beyond the 90 minutes on the pitch,"  Scott Fenton, Chelsea's Brand Director, tells GOAL. "At Chelsea, we have a strong point of view on culture and understand that football can mean different things to different people. In the last few years, we’ve made innovative and strategic efforts to place Chelsea at the heart of culture and connect with fans in multiple ways.

"From Brazilian rappers wearing the Chelsea kit at their shows, a WWE wrestler appearing in our most recent Christmas campaign, Chelsea's third kit featuring in a Gorillaz music video, to the Canadian world-famous pianist Tony Ann remixing the famous Chelsea anthem Blue is the Colour - we’re are constantly evolving and pushing beyond typical trends to show up off the pitch in fresh ways, that have broad reach. There’s a reason celebrities want to be seen at Stamford Bridge: from Central Cee to Timothee Chalamet, and why limited-edition collaborations - such as Drake’s clothing brand OVO - continue to resonate with audiences beyond football."

Together, the two sides will develop campaigns largely designed to tap into American pop culture. That will be done through a series of campaigns, content drops, and live experiences that will be revealed in the coming months.

"For Chelsea, it’s about understanding the full fan landscape and identifying the next generation of supporters and their entry points into football," Fenton says. "Connecting with new audiences and showing up in their world through entertainment and culture is key to growing the fan base in London but also globally, both in the short and long term."

That long-term view is no accident. From London to Krakow, clubs and brands are looking toward America with the World Cup coming to North America this summer, a tournament many believe could become a tipping point for the sport as a whole.

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A future in America

Roc Nation is expected to have several clients on the field for the World Cup this summer. Among them are Vinicius Junior, Yan Diomande, Gabriel Martinelli and Endrick. U.S. Men's National Team star Chris Richards is part of their client list, too. Sports are diven by starpower, Yormark says, and Roc Nation hopes that their clients can be the stars of the tournament. If that happens, their profiles will soar, and a rising tide lifts all boats.

"You look at 94, and Alex Lalas is the face of American soccer, maybe it's Chris Richards this summer," Yormark says. "You look back, and the U.S. has a great run, maybe he's Captain America after this."

Those last two words are key, and they're the ones everyone is thinking about. What happens after this? How does the game change in the U.S. and beyond? What comes next?

Those are the questions that Roc Nation Sports International wants to be part of answering. The work began years ago, but it will hit overdrive this summer.

"This World Cup on American soil has to be the catalyst for it to go to the next level," Yormark says. "If it does, it's going to be an extraordinary time in America, and we at Roc Nation Sports International believe that's going to happen, so we're placing a bigger emphasis on the U.S. market in terms of recruitment.

" We do believe the American market can be a very fruitful one, so because of that, we are going back to America and putting more resources into growing our business on American soil. Quite frankly, the motivation for that is the World Cup."

When Yormark sat with Jay-Z and Roc Nation's other stakeholders in that room seven years ago, it was on the heels of that World Cup announcement. That wasn't the endpoint, of course, but it was a target. By the time the world's game came stateside, Roc Nation Sports International needed to be something. Few could have predicted what it would be and what clubs it would touch along the way.

So now, as this big take-off point looms, what comes next? It's hard to predict, but Yormark does have some goals in mind.

"We want to make sure that we've influenced the football ecosystem. I talk about impact a lot, whether it's about impacting our clients, our athletes, our consulting partners - it's about using our influence in the industry to grow the sport, but also to do things differently," he says.

"That's why I'm here. I'm not here for glory. We're not here for headlines. We're here to create impact, to use our influence and our experience in a positive way to leave a lasting impression on football and, if we can do that, boy, we've won big time."