Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos become co-owners of fifth-league Italian team ASD Campobasso 1919

Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have joined the celebrity craze of buying lower-league European soccer teams.

The longtime morning show host and actor have become minority owners of ASD Campobasso 1919, an Italian team in the fifth league, through an investment in the club’s majority owner, North Sixth Group.

The Hollywood couple hopes their investment will help restore success at the Italian team.

North Sixth chairman Matt Rizzetta announced the move on Instagram on Thursday. The details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Rizzetta’s statement read: ‘The Hollywood power couple have become minority owners of Italian soccer side ASD Campobasso 1919 through an investment in the club’s majority owner, North Sixth Group.

‘Wrexham has nothing on this underdog story! So proud to welcome @kellyripa & @instasuelos into the family as partners in our football journey.

‘We bought @campobasso1919 because it was the quintessential underdog story, and there is no better underdog story in Hollywood over the past several decades than Kelly & Mark.

Grateful for your support and belief in our vision and opening your hearts to these wonderful fans who deserve to be put on the map in a big way! ‘Insieme’ the sky is the limit!’

The tiny club in the Molise region of Italy reached its peak in the 1980s when it reached Serie B, the second tier of Italian football, and remained there for five seasons.

Campobasso, which is nicknamed ‘Lupi,’ meaning ‘Wolves’ in Italian, was promoted to Serie C at the end of the 2020–21 season.

However, due to ‘administrative irregularities,’ the Italian Football Federation banned the club from participating in the Serie C competition.

Consequently, it was forced to merge with another club and re-enter the fifth tier of the Italian football system.

The team was unsure whether or not they would be able to compete in the 2022–23 season until they were purchased by the North Sixth Group, a US holding company, earlier this year.

Consuelos and Ripa will be hoping their investment can help boost the team back up the Italian leagues.

The longtime couple also invested in Ascoli FC, a team currently in Serie B of the Italian soccer league, through North Sixth Group.

The story is similar to that of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Hollywood takeover of Wrexham in November 2020.

Wrexham plays in the National League – the fifth highest in the English league system.

The Welsh club missed out on promotion in the duo’s first full campaign last term, suffering a playoff semi-final defeat against Grimsby after a second-place National League finish. This season, it sits three points behind leaders Notts County in second once more.

Nevertheless, McElhenney and Reynolds’ arrival has breathed new life into Wrexham, and Red Dragons supporters made their appreciation known this week.

In a clip posted on Twitter at the weekend, an emotional McElhenney appeared to be in tears while drinking with fans in a local pub.

The Wrexham faithful sang his name – and referenced Reynolds’ famous antihero Deadpool – as part of a chant dedicating to their new owners for saving their stadium from ‘crumbling down’.

The lyrics read: ‘Less than a mile from the center of town, a famous old stadium was crumbling down. No one invested so much as a penny, so bring on the Deadpool and Rob McElhenney.’

McElhenney, who was enjoying a quiet moment on his own in the pub, was clearly overwhelmed by the song as he fought back the tears.

More A-listers have made forays into the soccer world with Matthew McConaughey a minority owner in MLS team Austin FC and Will Ferrell one in LAFC, who recently won the MLS Cup.

Meanwhile, Natalie Portman was a founding investor in NWSL side Angel City FC and Christina Aguilera later joined as a minority owner.