Who owns Manchester City?
Manchester United used to be the pre-eminent force in the English Premier League until their “noisy neighbours” became the dominant team in the Premier League team since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Manchester’s success comes down to Pep Guardiola and unlimited money. This is who owns Manchester City football club.
Manchester City v Chelsea - Premier League//Getty Images
Manchester City Football Club has become one of the most successful clubs in the world. A change in ownership brought about unlimited spending power, unmatched in European football, except for Paris Saint Germain. A Qatar royal family member owns Manchester City through multiple companies and subsidiaries.
For so long, City were the butt of jokes, the long-forgotten ‘other club’ in Manchester. Their supporters went through the wringer as the club dropped from the English Premier League to the English Football League (EFL) League One. However, the club fought back to the top division, becoming the most powerful club in England. SportsBoom unpacks this astonishing success story and who owns Manchester City.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan//Getty Images
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan owns Manchester City Football Club
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan owns Manchester City Football Club. Mansour purchased City, through his company Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG). He bought City from Thai businessman and politician Thaksin Shinawatra in August 2008.
According to Man City News, Abu Dhabi United Group paid £200m for a 90 per cent stake in the club. The last 10% was bought twelve months later. Following Mansour’s acquisition of Manchester City, he handed over responsibility for running the club to Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
Garry Cook and owner Thaksin Shinawatra//Getty Images
Al Mubarak is the chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) of Mubadala Investment Company, a private equity asset management company. The Government of Abu Dhabi own Mubadala Investment Company. Al Mubarak is the chairman of three football teams around the globe: Manchester City, Mumbai City, and Melbourne City.
Sheikh Mansour appointed Al Mubarak as chairman of the board of directors of City Football Group (CFG). CFG is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi United Group. ADUG has 81% ownership of City Football Group. ADUG has investment stakes in New York City, Melbourne City, and Mumbai City.
Sheikh Mansour and Manchester City: A Legacy of Controversy and Success
Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City, the club has gone from a parochial club, forgotten in a city where their arch-rivals enjoyed domestic and global success, to one of the biggest clubs in the world. Before Mansour took over City, the club yo-yoed between England’s divisions. However, despite all the success since Mansour’s takeover, there have been concerns with the club’s financial accounting.
The Premier League currently has 115 outstanding charges for “financial doping”. City is alleged to have breached Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules numerous times, but the latest case against the club has not been heard. The club was banned from European competition and fined thirty million euros for breaching FFP rules between 2012 and 2016. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the ruling, and reduced the fine to ten million euros because CAS ruled the charges were “time-barred”.
Manchester City v Queens Park Rangers - Premier League//Getty Images
Manchester City: A Story of Success
Manchester City is the best football team in the English Premier League. The club suffered the ignominy of being relegated to the third tier of English football in the 1997/98 season. They regained promotion to the Premier League 2001/02 and have remained in the top flight since. However, success did not come easy or quickly. Before Mansour’s takeover, the club had limited success.
City had only won two English First Division titles (1936/37 & 1967/68), four FA Cups, two English Football League Cups, and one UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup. The club’s last trophy before the CFG buyout was the 1975/76 League Cup. The long-suffering supporters had to wait 34 years to taste success.
In 2010/11, City beat Stoke City 1-0 to claim a fifth FA Cup. The following year, they ended a 44-year-long top-flight title drought. The Sky Blues won their first Premier League title stunningly when they beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2, with two stoppage-time goals. Nobody will ever forget Martin Tyler’s legendary commentary as Sergio Agüero slotted the last-gasp winner, five minutes into injury time.
Manchester City fans//Getty Images
Agüero’s goal ended almost half a century of pain. To make this sensational achievement sweeter for supporters, was edging bitter Manchester rivals to the title, with the last kick of the season. Since then, the silverware has flowed. They possess the highest-paid players in the Premier League; they have the most money, the best coach and squad. The last three managers have all won three trophies, including Premier League championships.
The most successful manager is Pep Guardiola. The Catalan has won every trophy available, including the club’s first-ever UEFA Champions League in 2022/23. Guardiola’s teams broke many records as they conquered England. He has led City to four league titles in succession, and six in the last seven years.
Pep Guardiola kisses the UEFA Champions League trophy//Getty Images
Manchester City: A Story of Controversy
Manchester City might be one of the best clubs in the world but they are not yet one of the greatest teams in football history. They are far from it. And with numerous charges of “financial doping” from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the English Premier League, any success has to be met with caution. How did a middle-weight club with no historical success or fan-base turn into a European powerhouse.
In 2020, UEFA banned City from European competitions for two years and fined the club thirty million euros. City accepted the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling after they were found to have misled the European football governing body and guilty of breaking FFP rules.
However, months later, CAS overturned City’s two-year UEFA competition suspension after an appeal by the club’s litany of lawyers. CAS ruled that “most of the alleged breaches” were “either not established or time-barred”. But, in February 2023, the Premier League charged City with 115 alleged breaches of the league’s FFP rules over nine years from 2009 to 2018.
The BBC wrote that the charges filed against the club were for not providing “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”. The charges cover club revenue, including sponsorship income and operating costs. The BBC adds that “further breaches relate to rules requiring full details of manager and player remuneration” during two separate periods from 2009.
Court of Arbitration for Sport//Getty Images
In that time, the club hoovered up trophies across the globe. Despite Jürgen Klopp and his Liverpool team’s valiant attempts to stop City from winning every honour available every season, the Blues have dominated through their financial might. Mansour’s unlimited oil money has turned the club into a monster, an unstoppable force fuelled by petrol dollars.
The BBC stated that UEFA “began its investigation into City after German newspaper Der Spiegel published leaked documents in November 2018 alleging that the club had inflated the value of a sponsorship deal”. The club claimed the allegations were “entirely false” and that allegations in Der Spiegel came from illegal hacking and out-of-context publication of City emails.”
Not all breaches are related to financial issues. Thirty-five issues relate to City’s failure to cooperate with the Premier League investigation from 2018 until February 2023. A ruling on Man City’s case is expected in early 2025, but the way this case has been trending, the verdicts will take longer. It is, therefore, unknown when this sorry saga will end.
Players of Manchester City celebrating with the Premier League trophy//Getty Images
Kaylan Geekie is a sports fanatic. He attended Durban High School before moving to Scotland, where he lived for 15 years. During his time in the United Kingdom, Kaylan graduated with a first-class BA Honours Degree in Sports Journalism at the University of the West of Scotland. Kaylan worked for nine years as the Match-Day Editor of SuperXV.com, reporting on Super Rugby, The Rugby Championship, the 2015 Men's Rugby World Cup and the 2017 British & Irish Lions series for the website.