It is one of the most unlikely and, from a sporting aspect, most unusual transfers in recent times in Portuguese football.
Courtney James Reum, a 45-year-old North American, is a reinforcement for Länk Vilaverdense, a club that competes in the Portuguese II League.
His name appeared in the League’s latest registration update, at the end of the night on Wednesday, January 31st, with Courtney being registered as a forward.
However, Courtney, who is the brother-in-law of American celebrity Paris Hilton, has the distinction of never having been a professional footballer: he only had one stint in college football, with the Columbia Lions, in the late 90s and early 2000s.
On the social network Instagram, where he has around 298 thousand followers, Courtney presents himself as a businessman and investor, co-founding the investment company M13, together with his brother Carter, husband of Paris Hilton. On the official website of the company M13, Courtney presents herself as working in the health sector.
Courtney also appears as the author of the book “Shortcut Your Startup: Speed Up Success with Unconventional Advice from the Trenches”. He is also a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs.
According to information available on the website popularnetworth.com, Carter has a net worth valued at 35 million dollars (around 32 million euros).
What remains to be understood, from now on, is what role Courtney Reum will actually play in Portugal and, more precisely, in the football team of Länk Vilaverdense, a club from Vila Verde that had another notable signing in this winter market: Clarence Seedorf’s nephew.
All this in a season that saw promotion to the II League, but which has not been easy structurally, with the team playing successively at home on loan, from Paços de Ferreira to Coimbra, passing through Vila das Aves or Penafiel.