Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus swapped the Black Cats boardroom for the touchline as he attended a five-a-side tournament in London earlier this month. The Athletic's Ali Humayun says the Swiss-French billionaire watched on as a team of friends took part in the Lucozade Sport Cup in Shoreditch.
The Black Cats owner kitted out his team in Sunderland's light-blue away strip, as his friends from the Swiss city of Zurich took part in the tournament open to the public on March 3. Louis-Dreyfus, once an academy player at Grasshoppers Zurich, arrived at the event with the away tops in a holdall.
Despite his best efforts - including roping in a player from an opposing group-stage side after a number of his team-mates picked up injuries in their opening games - he wasn't able to guide them to semi-finals. Louis-Dreyfus' side were knocked out at the quarter-final stage of the competition and missed out on £1,000 in cash and a case of energy drinks, according to the report.
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The Wearsiders owner will be aggrieved he wasn't able to call on close friend and Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele - who he was pictured with at the Stadium of Light just five days later. The French international was once the joint-second most expensive footballer in the world when he signed for Barca from German side Borussia Dortmund.
The 25-year-old is close friends with Louis-Dreyfus and watched on from the directors' box as Sunderland were beaten 2-1 by fellow promotion chasers Sheffield United.
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