A two-time National Basketball Association (NBA) Most Valuable Player and the owners of the Phoenix Suns have bought a controlling stake in Spanish football team Real Mallorca.

Former professional basketball player Steve Nash has purchased more than €20m (£14.9m, US$21.7m) worth of shares in the second division (Segunda Division) club, alongside Suns owners Robert Sarver and Andy Kohlberg.

South Africa-born Nash is a big football fan and already co-owns Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Vancouver Whitecaps. According to reports, Nash’s first move as owner is to appoint associate, former Juventus and Italy footballer Alessandro Del Piero, as the club’s sporting director.

Real Mallorca is currently battling against relegation in the Spanish second tier, but had a period of success in the early noughties, winning the Copa del Rey (the Spanish domestic cup competition) in 2003 and competing in the UEFA Champions League during the 2001/02 season.

Real estate businessman Sarver purchased the Suns in 2004 for US$401m (£275.4m, €368.9m), joining forces with Nash for the first time when he played for the franchise between 2004 and 2012.

The trio become the latest American entrepreneurs to invest in a European football club. A US consortium headed up by Thomas Di Benedetto owns Italian Serie A club Roma, while a number of Premier League clubs, including Arsenal (Stan Kroenke), Aston Villa (Randy Lerner), Crystal Palace (David Blitzer and Josh Harris), Liverpool (John W. Henry), Manchester United (Glazer family) and Sunderland (Ellis Short) are US-owned.