AS PROFESSIONAL EUROPEAN soccer teams go, Galatasaray has had a pretty strong 2013, finishing in the top slot of its league in Turkey and competing in the prestigious European Champions League with super teams like Real Madrid and Manchester United. And the Istanbul-based team has a strong future, now that it has acquired the captain of the Dutch national soccer team.

But here's what makes it attractive to the elite investor, who may not know the difference between a penalty kick and corner kick: The soccer team and its publicly traded marketing unit is valued at an estimated $1 billion and is considered one of the 25 richest in the world, according to a Deloitte report.

Not that long ago, few wealth managers would have considered Turkey or the rest of Central and Eastern Europe a legitimate investment opportunity. But wealthy investors think they've discovered a new emerging market, half a globe away from the more traditional emerging options in Brazil or Southeast Asia.

As a growing number of pros see it, the options range from traditional government bonds to sport teams and movie studios. (For its part, Galatasaray hasn't said it wants any backers and declined requests for comment. But analysts say it's attracting some anyway.) Late last year, the Polish government—as part of its privatization policy—auctioned off Studio Miniatur Filmowych, which specializes in producing animated films, and Studio Filmowe Kronika, a production house for documentaries. Investors could bid for 85 percent of Kronika, at the starting price of $215,000. A stake in Miniatur Filmowych, which in 2010 had revenues of $1.8 million, was even more of a bargain, analysts say. The starting price was $110,000.

Look elsewhere and the price of an Eastern European movie studio is small change. In Romania, the government is selling a controlling stake in its national rail freight for $81 million. The country's postal service is for sale, too, for $112 million. Turkey, meanwhile, would like an investor to buy more than 1,200 miles of toll roads (not to mention two enormous bridges over the Bosporus Strait). The list can seem endless because the governments in this region are on aggressive privatization plans, which include health spas, pottery manufacturers and, in Poland, even an animal-breeding station.