Al-Fayed may sell Fulham

By Elena Moya

LONDON (Reuters) - Mohamed al-Fayed, owner of Harrods, is planning to sell Fulham F.C., the football club he owns in the capital, sources familiar with the situation said.

In 1997, Egyptian-born Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Princess Diana in a car crash that year, invested 30 million pounds ($58.93 million) in Fulham and took over as chairman after agreeing to acquire a controlling stake.

"He's interested in selling it," said one of the sources.

With Al-Fayed's financial backing Fulham repurchased the freehold to their Craven Cottage stadium on the banks of the river Thames in west London for an estimated 7.5 million pounds, while on the pitch they were promoted to the top flight in 2001.

Fulham F.C. officials weren't immediately available for comment.

Investors have been attracted by the English league, the largest and most profitable in world football, which has doubled its sales to 2 billion euros (1.358 billion pounds) in five years, according to data from accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche.

"Premiership clubs' overall revenues are set to grow significantly in the 2007/08 season when new broadcasting contracts should increase annual revenue to over 2.5 billion euros," Deloitte said recently in a report.

"The legal structures and business culture leaves English clubs more open to changes of ownership than in many other European countries," the Deloitte report said.