Full Name
AJ Swoboda
Job Title
Founder & Managing Partner
Company
Formation Partners
Speaker Bio
AJ Swoboda is the Founder and Managing Partner of Formation Partners, a boutique advisory and principal investment platform built exclusively for sport.
Formation operates on a merchant-bank model, combining institutional-grade strategic advisory, proprietary sports finance IP, and aligned principal capital into a single platform engineered to compound enterprise value. The firm's work spans men's and women's global football, and serves controlling owners, investors, and governing bodies on high-stakes decisions across the full arc of sports ownership.
Prior to founding Formation, he served as Managing Director at Twenty First Group, where he founded and led the firm's Americas business, and pioneered their global Investment Intelligence practice. He has advised top-tier investors and owners — including Arctos Partners, The Friedkin Group, Clearlake Capital, Man Capital, Fertitta Entertainment, 49ers Enterprises — on transactions representing more than $3 billion in invested capital, including Everton FC, Paris Saint-Germain, San Diego FC, Atalanta BC, FC Augsburg, and AS Roma, among others. He has worked directly with all major American soccer leagues, including Major League Soccer, the National Women's Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues, as the lead advisor on landmark competition reforms. His work included MLS's historic calendar and format realignment and USL's introduction of promotion and relegation.
Earlier in his career, AJ worked at Applied Predictive Technologies, which was acquired by Mastercard for $600 million. He then founded SW Analytics, a sports advisory and technology firm.
AJ holds a B.S.E. in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was a member of the Men's Soccer Team. He serves on the board of Princeton University Soccer.
Formation operates on a merchant-bank model, combining institutional-grade strategic advisory, proprietary sports finance IP, and aligned principal capital into a single platform engineered to compound enterprise value. The firm's work spans men's and women's global football, and serves controlling owners, investors, and governing bodies on high-stakes decisions across the full arc of sports ownership.
Prior to founding Formation, he served as Managing Director at Twenty First Group, where he founded and led the firm's Americas business, and pioneered their global Investment Intelligence practice. He has advised top-tier investors and owners — including Arctos Partners, The Friedkin Group, Clearlake Capital, Man Capital, Fertitta Entertainment, 49ers Enterprises — on transactions representing more than $3 billion in invested capital, including Everton FC, Paris Saint-Germain, San Diego FC, Atalanta BC, FC Augsburg, and AS Roma, among others. He has worked directly with all major American soccer leagues, including Major League Soccer, the National Women's Soccer League, and the United Soccer Leagues, as the lead advisor on landmark competition reforms. His work included MLS's historic calendar and format realignment and USL's introduction of promotion and relegation.
Earlier in his career, AJ worked at Applied Predictive Technologies, which was acquired by Mastercard for $600 million. He then founded SW Analytics, a sports advisory and technology firm.
AJ holds a B.S.E. in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University, where he graduated magna cum laude and was a member of the Men's Soccer Team. He serves on the board of Princeton University Soccer.
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