Tony Mabert

@tonymabertespn.bsky.social

477 Followers 953 Following

Senior editor and writer for ESPN FC

But, like his team, there's no doubt Boekhoorn also has a flair for the remarkable. After buying Ouwehands Zoo in Utrecht in 2000, he campaigned China's government for 16 years to move two pandas to it. Finally, in 2016, he was successful; pandas Xing Ya and Wu Wen moved over to the Netherlands in a deal signed in front of president Xi Jinping. His office at Ouwehands Zoo is above a gorilla enclosure; a hatch on the floor can be opened so you can throw food through it, and several N.E.C. players have done so after signing their contracts. Not everything the billionaire touches turns to gold though, as he once got stung in a deal to bring in a rare white crocodile; after paying for it to be imported, a rain shower revealed that it was a regular croc that had been painted white.