Ann Rodríguez Is Leading the Deal for 42% of Valencia CF

The group buying into one of Spain’s biggest football clubs has a woman at the front of it. On October 23, 2026, Valencia CF announced that Pitchwise Holdings, led by Ann Rodríguez and Corey Woolfolk, would take a 42% stake in the club. Rodríguez’s route to that table ran through three startup soccer teams, the WNBA’s front office and the 2028 Olympics.

The deal

Pitchwise is “a consortium of private family offices and long-term institutional investors,” per the announcement from law firm Simpson Thacher, which represented KKR co-founder George Roberts. It will buy shares from Meriton Holdings, the company of Singaporean businessman Peter Lim, for what the firm calls “a significant minority stake,” ending at 42%. It will also put €100 million of new capital into the club for direct investment. The deal values Valencia at an enterprise value of €1.25 billion.

ESdiario reports that Lim keeps more than half the shares, so he remains the owner, and his son Kiat Lim stays as president. The Spanish paper says Pitchwise’s stated goals are to return Valencia to regular European competition, strengthen the women’s team and develop the youth academy, and that the new money arrives ahead of the winter transfer window. The club hasn’t said how it will be spent.

Behind Pitchwise are some of the biggest names in private equity. Simpson Thacher names George Roberts and Henry Kravis, the co-founders and co-executive chairmen of KKR, and Penner Sports Group. ESdiario adds that Penner Sports Group is the Denver family investment group Greg and Carrie Penner founded in 2022, whose holdings include the Denver Broncos and a minority stake in the Colorado Rockies.

Her path to the owners’ box

Rodríguez’s résumé is a run through the business side of soccer and women’s sports.

1. Washington Freedom. She started in 2001 as senior manager of sponsorship sales for the Women’s United Soccer Association club, per Atlanta United’s profile.
2. San Jose Earthquakes. As vice president of sales and marketing from 2006 to 2008, she helped bring the MLS team back to the Bay Area after a hiatus.
3. Under Armour. She held strategy, global brand and sports marketing roles and led the brand’s entry into the Premier League through its Tottenham Hotspur partnership, per the WNBA’s announcement.
4. Atlanta United FC. She joined in May 2015 as vice president of business operations for the MLS expansion team, overseeing sales, marketing, digital, broadcast, merchandise and fan experience. Hispanic Executive credits her with leading the creation of the record-setting club.
5. WNBA. She joined in August 2017 as senior vice president of league operations, overseeing playing rules, scheduling and referee operations, and was promoted to chief operating officer on Jay Parry’s departure at the end of April 2018.
6. The Olympics. Hispanic Executive lists her as chief strategy and people officer for the Summer Olympic Games, and ESdiario names the LA28 organizing committee among her past roles.

Along the way she was also a senior vice president at NextGen Angels, an early-stage investment group in Washington, D.C., per the WNBA. “We have to sustain this success and continue to build and grow and engage the fan base,” she said at Atlanta United, a line that reads like a brief for Valencia.

The stadium question

The asset that most shapes Valencia’s value is the stadium it hasn’t finished. ESdiario reports that the new Nou Mestalla is expected to hold more than 70,000 spectators, against about 49,000 at the current Mestalla, and ties the project to the 2030 World Cup that Spain, Portugal and Morocco will host. Corey Woolfolk, Rodríguez’s co-lead, spent a decade as a player in the US and has worked in biotech, venture capital and football-club investments in Europe and South America, per the same report.

Where she fits

Rodríguez’s career makes the case that the business of women’s sports is a training ground for the whole industry. Haley Rosen built Just Women’s Sports into a media company after playing at Stanford, and is now buying technology to own the fan relationship. Julia Hartz took Eventbrite public on another business built on getting people into seats. Rodríguez has spent 25 years doing that for clubs and leagues, and now she’s on the buying side.

Sources: Simpson Thacher and ESdiario (October 23, 2026), WNBA (March 27, 2018), Atlanta United, Hispanic Executive (November 2023). Last checked October 28, 2026.