Daniel Levy | |
|---|---|
 Levy in 2012 | |
| Executive Chairman ofTottenham Hotspur Football Club | |
| In office February 2001 – September 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Alan Sugar(sold his last stake of the club in 2007) |
| Succeeded by | Peter Charrington (non-executive) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Daniel Philip Levy[1] (1962-02-08)8 February 1962 (age 63) Essex, England |
| Spouse | Tracy Dixon |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Managing Director ofENIC International Ltd Member ofTavistock Group Former executive chairman ofTottenham Hotspur |
Daniel Philip Levy (born 8 February 1962) is an English businessman, who served as executive chairman ofPremier League clubTottenham Hotspur FC from February 2001 until September 2025, becoming the league’s longest-serving executive in that role.
Daniel Philip Levy was born on 8 February 1962 inEssex, England, toJewish parents. His father Barry Levy was the owner of a clothing retail business Mr Byrite (later rebranded asBlue Inc).[2] He is a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter, and attended his first match atWhite Hart Lane againstQueens Park Rangers when he was seven or eight in the 1960s.[3][4] He studied Economics and Land Economy atSidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and graduated in 1985 with a First Class Honours Degree.[5][6]
After graduating, Levy was involved in several businesses, including his family business, Mr Byrite, and property development.[7][8][9] He went into investment banking, investing inprivate equity, and raising money to invest in many different companies.[4] He formed a business association withJoe Lewis in an investment trust calledENIC International Ltd and became its managing director in 1995.[6] Levy turned ENIC into a sports, entertainment and media company.[10][11][4] As of 2025, Levy and his family owned 29.4% of the share capital of ENIC, while Lewis owned 70.6%.[12]
ENIC bought shares in six European clubs, including a minority stake in Tottenham Hotspur.[4] ENIC held a significant stake in Scottish football clubRangers, and Levy was a director of the club until 2004.[13] ENIC also held stakes inAEK Athens,Slavia Prague,FC Basel andVicenza,[14] as well as non-football companies such asWarner Bros Restaurants and aCambridge software company,Autonomy.[15] He bought a significant stake in Tottenham Hotspur and became its chairman in 2001;[16] UEFA rules not allowing clubs with the same owner to compete in the same competition led to the eventual sale of the others.[17][4]
Levy first made an attempt to buy Tottenham Hotspur fromAlan Sugar in July 1998 but failed.[10] Another attempt was made in July 2000 which was also rejected, but increasing hostility by fans towards Sugar eventually persuaded him to sell.[14] Levy was then appointed to the board of Tottenham Hotspur on 20 December 2000 after ENIC initiated the purchase of a 27% stake in the club from Sugar for £22 million,[18] bringing their total stake to 29.9%, the maximum permissible before ENIC had to bid for the entire company.[19] He replaced Sugar as executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur in February 2001 on the completion of the sale,[18] and took over the day-to-day running of the club in October 2001.[16] ENIC eventually substantially increased their shareholding and gained control of the company after buying the remaining shares from Sugar in 2007 for £25m,[20][21][22] as well as those of other shareholders, eventually acquiring 85.55% of Tottenham.[12] ENIC moved the club into private ownership in 2012.[23] Levy became the highest-paid Premier League chief executive, with an annual remuneration of over £6 million in the2016–17 season.[24] On 4 September 2025, Levy stepped down as the executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur as part of a broader management shake-up.[25][26] He was succeeded by Peter Charrington.[27]
The first manager appointed with Levy at the helm wasGlenn Hoddle in 2001. Hoddle was sacked following a poor start to the2003–04 season in September 2003. He was followed in quick succession byJacques Santini andMartin Jol.[28] Jol had some success moving Tottenham out of the mid-table position, but was dismissed in the2007–08 season after the team had only won one out of the first ten games.[29]
Juande Ramos succeeded as head coach in 2008. He delivered theLeague Cup, the first trophy under Levy's stewardship and the club's first in nine years, but Levy made the decision to replace him withHarry Redknapp on 25 October 2008 after Ramos made the worst start to a league campaign in the club's history during the2008–09 season.[30] Redknapp guided Spurs to a top-four finish in the2009–10 season, winning an entry into the qualification round of theUEFA Champions League for the first time. Tottenham reached the knockout stage of the 2010–11 Champions League but lost there toReal Madrid 0–5 on aggregate. The club finished fifth in the Premier League in the2010–11 season, missing out on Champions League qualification but securing a place in theEuropa League.[31] On 13 June 2012, Redknapp was sacked after failing to agree terms for a new deal.[32]
On 3 July, Levy appointed former Chelsea and Porto bossAndre Villas-Boas the team's new head coach.[33] Following some poor results in the first half of the2013–14 season, including a 5–0 home defeat to Liverpool, Levy sacked Villas-Boas on 16 December 2013.[34] Head of Football Development and former playerTim Sherwood was subsequently announced as head coach, but he also left at the end of the season.[35]
On 27 May 2014, Levy appointed former Southampton managerMauricio Pochettino as head coach.[36] The team reached theLeague Cupfinal in Pochettino'sfirst season in charge, which also saw a number of the club's academy players step up to establish themselves in the first team, includingHarry Kane,Ryan Mason,Nabil Bentaleb andAndros Townsend. Pochettino's team qualified for Europe with a fifth-place finish in 2014–15 before challenging for the Premier League title in the2015–16 and2016–17 seasons with a squad with the youngest average age in the league.[37] In the latter season, Tottenham finished 2nd in the league, making it their highest league position since the1962–63 season underBill Nicholson.[38] The team have been ranked among the top 4 since the 2015–16 season, allowing them to qualify for and participate in the Champions League since2016–17. Tottenham reached theChampions League final for the first time in2018–19, losing to Liverpool 0–2.[39]
On 19 November 2019, Pochettino was sacked, being replaced the following day byJosé Mourinho.[40] After 17 months in charge, Mourinho was sacked on 19 April 2021 after a spate of losses and a disappointing second half of the2020–21 season.[41] Former player Ryan Mason served as an interim manager for the rest of the season, losing to Manchester City in the2021 League Cup final 0–1.
On 30 June 2021, Levy appointedNuno Espírito Santo the head coach on a two-year deal.[42] Nuno was sacked on 1 November 2021 following a run of poor results which saw Tottenham lose four out of six previous Premier League games.[43] On 2 November 2021, Levy appointedAntonio Conte the new head coach on an 18-month deal, with an option to extend further.[44] The team's form improved under Conte and resulted in Tottenham qualifying for theUEFA Champions League.[45] He was sacked in March 2023 following a run of poor results and Champions League elimination at the hands of Milan.[46] Conte's assistant,Cristian Stellini, was appointed as interim manager with the intention of finishing the season, but was sacked himself following a 6–1 defeat toNewcastle. Ryan Mason returned in his stead.[47]
Ange Postecoglou was appointed the new head coach on 6 June 2023. Postecoglou won the2025 Europa League, Tottenham's first trophy in 17 years,[48] but was sacked on 6 June 2025 for the poor results in the Premier League.[49]After his dismissal from the club, Levy appointedThomas Frank as Tottenham’s new head coach.[50]
Levy is noted for maintaining a relatively modest wage structure at Tottenham compared to the otherbig six clubs of the Premier League; the club spent the least on wages among the top six in the2018–19 season, and it had the lowest wage/revenue percentage of all clubs in the Premier League.[51][52][53] Levy has described the spending by the league's other clubs as unsustainable.[54] In the2017–18 season, Tottenham made a profit of £113 million (£138.9m pre-tax), a world record for a football club.[55][56] By 2023, the yearly revenue for the club had reached a record £549.6 million.[57] The club was valued at around £80 million when ENIC first attempted to buy a stake in 1998,[58][59] and by 2019, its valuations had increased to £1.3–1.8 billion.[60][61][62]
Levy is the chief negotiator in the transfer of players for Tottenham.[63] He has acquired a reputation for tough negotiation in the club's transfer dealings; former Manchester United managerSir Alex Ferguson described negotiating with Levy over the transfer ofDimitar Berbatov as "more painful than my hip replacement".[64] In 2013, Levy negotiated a then-world record fee of £86 million for the transfer ofGareth Bale to Real Madrid.[65] Levy is particularly known for his last-minute dealings on deadline days, with notable examples including the signings ofRafael van der Vaart andHugo Lloris.[66] He is also known for targeting young players, in the hopes of developing them into major stars; this strategy has seen such successes as Gareth Bale,Christian Eriksen, andSon Heung-min.[67]
Levy has been criticised by Tottenham supporters and pundits alike for not investing more money in the transfer market; in the first four years of Pochettino's tenure as Spurs manager, the club had a net spend of £29 million ontransfer fees, considerably lower than the other major clubs in the same period.[68] In 2018, Tottenham became the first Premier League club to make no signings during a summer transfer window.[69]
Levy has been instrumental in attracting corporate partners to the club in multi-million pound sponsorship deals, including current partnersNike andAIA. He negotiated multiple shirt sponsorships in 2010, agreeing a deal with software infrastructure companyAutonomy as the club's shirt sponsor in the Premier League, whileInvestec became shirt sponsor for Champions League and domestic cup competitions.[70]
Levy has also promoted governance issues related to the Premier League, most recently advocating enhanced financial controls for all owners to ensure the long-term financial stability of clubs. In 2007, he lobbied successfully for clubs to be allowed to name seven players on the substitute bench, in order to encourage the inclusion of youngsters; the change was ratified in February 2008.[71]
In 2012, the club moved to its new training base set in 80 acres ofgreenbelt land.[72] Planning and construction of the facility took over seven years and a player accommodation lodge was added later. The Brazil national team stayed at the lodge to prepare for the2018 World Cup.[73]
Levy oversaw the construction of a new, larger stadium adjacent to and replacing theWhite Hart Lane site, from its design to the construction.[74][75] TheNorthumberland Development Project was announced in 2008, with the building of a new club stadium at its centrepiece.[76] After some delay, the construction of the new venue started in 2015. The stadium was designed with an initial capacity of 62,062, making it the largest club stadium in London and the second largest in the country. The project is intended to be a catalyst for the regeneration of Tottenham to bring new jobs and homes to the area.[77]
For the2017–18 season, Levy negotiated the club's move toWembley Stadium for one year to allow demolition of the old venue and the completion of a new stadium on the same site as White Hart Lane. During their time at Wembley, the club broke the Premier League attendance record several times, as well as the Champions League attendance record for a British club.[78]
The new stadium officially opened on 3 April 2019, branded asTottenham Hotspur Stadium. It includes the world's first dividing retractable pitch to accommodate other leading sports, notablyAmerican football (NFL) games, and entertainment events.[79] The design allowed the club to agree a ten-year deal to host NFL matches at their new home from 2018 onwards.[80] The stadium is reported to have cost £1.2 billion,[81] and a financial analysis in February 2021 indicated that construction of the stadium is largely responsible for burdening Tottenham with a £1.177 billion debt, the biggest of all European clubs.[82]
In November 2017, Levy was named CEO of the Year at the Football Business Awards.[83]
Levy is Jewish.[84] He is married to his formerPA, Tracy Dixon, and they have four children.[85][86]
His son, Josh Levy, is a non executive director of pub chain, Mitchell & Butler.[87]
