Former Ball Boy Kicked by Eden Hazard Is Now Behind a Vodka Brand Reportedly Worth £500m
Charlie Morgan, famously involved in an incident with Eden Hazard in 2013, is reportedly set to earn a major windfall from the sale of his drinks brand, Au Vodka. Co-founded in 2015, the viral company known for its gold bottles is being acquired by global spirits giant Sazerac for an estimated £500 million.
Charlie Morgan was once known around the football world as the Swansea City ball boy involved in one of Eden Hazard's most infamous Chelsea moments.
Thirteen years later, he could be associated with a very different number: £500 million.
Morgan is the co-founder of Au Vodka, the British drinks brand that global spirits company Sazerac has agreed to acquire in a deal reportedly valuing the business at around £500 million.
For football fans, Morgan's name goes back to January 2013.
During the second leg of Chelsea's League Cup semi-final against Swansea City, Morgan fell on the ball while Hazard was attempting to retrieve it as Chelsea chased the game.
Hazard appeared to kick underneath Morgan while trying to free the ball and was subsequently shown a red card.
The Belgian later apologised, explaining that he had been trying to kick the ball rather than the teenager.
The incident became one of the stranger episodes of Hazard's hugely successful Chelsea career, while Morgan briefly became an unlikely figure in English football conversation.
But his life after that night took a considerably more lucrative direction.
Morgan and Jackson Quinn founded Au Vodka in 2015, building the Swansea-based company around its immediately recognisable metallic gold bottles and brightly coloured flavoured vodkas.
The brand grew rapidly through social media and collaborations with celebrities and online personalities, carving out a particularly strong following among younger adult consumers.
Its expansion eventually attracted the attention of Sazerac, the American spirits group behind a large portfolio of drinks brands.
Sazerac has now entered a binding agreement to acquire Au Vodka, describing the British company as a fast-growing vodka and ready-to-drink brand.
The acquisition would give Sazerac a considerably stronger position in the UK market while placing Au Vodka inside the portfolio of one of the world's major privately owned spirits businesses.
Reports have put the company's valuation at approximately £500 million, although the financial terms of the transaction have not been publicly disclosed.
That distinction is important.
Morgan himself is not confirmed to be receiving £500 million. The amount represents the reported value attached to the company, and his eventual proceeds would depend on his ownership position and the structure of the transaction.
The deal nevertheless represents an extraordinary outcome for a business launched by Morgan and Quinn when they were still teenagers.
Au Vodka's rise has been driven heavily by branding and digital marketing rather than the traditional advertising model long associated with established spirits companies.
The company turned its gold bottle into a recognisable social-media product and attracted investment and promotional support from figures including British DJ Charlie Sloth.
Its potential £500 million sale now places Morgan's business career far beyond the strange football moment that first made his name internationally.
There is an amusing connection between the two chapters of his life, but the Hazard incident didn't create Morgan's fortune.
It simply means that the teenage ball boy millions of football fans remember from one chaotic night in Swansea went on to build a drinks company reportedly valued at hundreds of millions of pounds.
And for anyone who remembers Hazard desperately trying to get that football back in 2013, that's quite a second act.