Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been the owner of Manchester City football club since buying the team from Thai businessman and politician Thaksin Shinawatra in August 2008.
Mansour’s company the Abu Dhabi United Group paid a reported £200m for a 90% stake originally, with the last 10% being bought twelve months later.
Over the course of the last 16 years, City have developed into one of the most successful teams in world football, due to investment from Mansour and some of the strategic decisions that have been made.
Mansour has also purchased 12 more teams under the umbrella of the City Football Group, which we will talk more about below.
Who is Sheikh Mansour?
The 43-year-old is part of the Abu Dhabi royal family, being the fifth son of the Emir of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
For his education, he went to Santa Barbara Community College and he graduated from the United Arab Emirates University with a degree in International Affairs.
Since then, Mansour has taken on a number of responsibilities, being appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE in 2009 before being installed as Vice-President in 2023.
In terms of his business interests, the Sheikh is chairman of two separate UAE sovereign wealth funds – the Emirates Investment Authority and the Mubadala Investment Company. He is also a board member of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the owner of the aforementioned investment fund: the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG).
With regard to other positions, Mansour has been appointed the chairman of ADNOC (Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company) and the UAE’s Central Bank.
The Sheikh has investments in other fields. His Mubadala Investment Company has stakes in Virgin Galactic and Daimler, while he also owns Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC) which has invested in Sky News Arabia (an Arabic language news channel), The National newspaper and Euronews.
Mansour is enthusiastic about horses, and he is said to be a very capable rider, having won numerous racing endurance events. Furthermore, he is the current chairman of the Emirates Horse Racing Authority.
He has two wives; Sheikha Alia bint Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed (who he married in 1994) and Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (who he married in 2005). He has fathered six children (one son (Zayed) from his first marriage, as well as two daughters (Fatima and Latifa) and three sons (Mohammed, Hamdan and Rashid) from his second marriage).
What is Sheikh Mansour’s net worth?
While Sheikh Mansour’s net worth is not known publicly, the total wealth of the Abu Dhabi royal family has been estimated at $300bn.
The Abu Dhabi United Group itself is said to be worth in excess of £17bn, which would make it the third richest owner in the Premier League behind Newcastle United (owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund) and Manchester United (Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazers).
What have Man City’s biggest successes been under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership?
The Sky Blues have been incredibly successful since the arrival of Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi Group. While it did take four years, the club lifted their first Premier League title in 2012, followed by another two years later.
However, it was the arrival of Pep Guardiola as manager in 2016 which saw the club emerge as one of the titans of European football. During his tenure, the club have won five Premier League titles in the last six seasons, as well as lifting the club’s first European Cup in 2023. The Spaniard has also won the first domestic and continental trebles in the club’s history.
Overall, the Cityzens have won seven league championships, three FA Cups, six League Cups, three FA Community Shields, one Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup following Sheikh Mansour’s takeover of the club in 2008. It is an unprecedented level of success that eclipses any other era since the club was formed back in 1880.
What is Sheikh Mansour’s role at the club and who else is on Man City’s board?
The owner doesn’t take responsibility for the day-to-day running of the club, with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak having been afforded those duties.
Martin Edelman, Simon Pearce, John MacBeath, Alberto Galassi and Abdulla Khouri are the other members of City’s board.
What is the City Football Group?
In 2013, Sheikh Mansour decided to form the City Football Group (CFG). It is a holding company that owns stakes in 13 separate professional football clubs around the world.
Mansour originally held full ownership of CFG before China Media Capital Holdings bought a 13% stake worth $400m in 2015. In late 2022, CMC Holdings sold all of its shares to a private equity firm Silver Lake.
CFG was created following the foundation of Major League Soccer team New York City FC. Since then, additional clubs have been added to the company’s portfolio, including Australian side Melbourne City FC, Uruguay’s Montevideo City Torque, India’s Mumbai City, Brazil’s Bahia, Italy’s Palermo, Turkey’s Istanbul Basaksehir, Japan’s Yokohama F-Marinos, French Ligue One club Troyes, Belgian outfit Lommel, La Liga side Girona, and China Super League team Shenzhen Peng City. The idea was to create a global network of teams that could mutually benefit from cooperation.
The company is believed to have over 1000 employees spread out across the world, not only in football clubs, but at football academies, stadiums and marketing/PR operations.
The chief executive is Ferran Soriano. The Spaniard has been guiding the CFG’s development since its inception. The former Barcelona vice-president was the brainchild behind its foundation, having initially come up with the idea when he was still working in his previous job.
How much is Man City worth?
City reported record revenues of £712.8m for the 2022-23 season as well as making a profit of £80.4m. City are second on the Deloitte Football Money League table.
In terms of the club’s overall net worth, it has been estimated by Forbes at $4.99bn, making it the 5th most valuable football team in the world. The four clubs that currently have a higher net worth are Real Madrid ($6.07bn), Manchester United ($6bn), Barcelona ($5.51bn) and Liverpool ($5.29bn).
