BrandWikiReturn

City Football Group

WorldBrand briefing

AI supplement

Original synthesis to sit alongside the encyclopedia article below. Not part of Wikipedia; verify facts on Wikipedia when precision matters.

City Football Group (CFG) is a leading global association football investment and management firm, owning or partially owning a portfolio of professional clubs across five continents. Headquartered in Manchester, United Kingdom, it is majority owned by entities tied to the Abu Dhabi royal family, with minority investments from global firms and Chinese media groups. The group prioritizes balancing local club community authenticity with global operational, commercial, and talent development standards.

Key moments

  • May 2013CFG formally established as a holding company for its flagship club Manchester City FC and future football assets
  • 2014Acquires majority stake in Melbourne Heart FC, rebrands it to Melbourne City FC; forms strategic partnership for Yokohama F. Marinos
  • 2015Launches City Football Japan; fully acquires Melbourne City FC; New York City FC competes in its first Major League Soccer season
  • April 2017Acquires Club Atlético Torque in Uruguay, later rebranded to Montevideo City Torque; takes a stake in Spain's Girona FC
  • July 2024 – June 2025Places its shareholding in Girona FC into an independent blind trust to comply with UEFA regulatory requirements

Competitive Analysis for City Football Group

  1. Key Global Competitors: The Red Bull-owned football network is the most direct rival, operating a similar multi-club ecosystem focused on standardized player development and global brand alignment. Other notable competitors include sports investment group Ineos (owner of OGC Nice and FC Lausanne-Sport) and regional multi-club ownership platforms across Asia and the Americas.
  2. Competitive Advantages: CFG’s standout strengths include the consistent elite performance of its flagship Premier League club Manchester City, a large global fanbase, and a robust infrastructure for sharing coaching, commercial, and operational best practices across its entire club portfolio. Additionally, its proactive compliance with UEFA rules helps reduce regulatory risks that could impact its competitive standing.
  • Direct global rival: Red Bull Football Network's standardized multi-club model
  • Other competitors: Ineos Sports and regional multi-club investment groups
  • Key strengths: Flagship club success, global fan reach, cross-club operational integration, regulatory compliance

City Football Group (CFG) has established itself as a pioneering and dominant leader in the global multi-club professional football ownership space, building its brand around a distinctive model that balances centralized operational and commercial excellence with preservation of individual club local identity. Backed by long-term substantial capital from Abu Dhabi-based stakeholders, CFG has scaled rapidly from its original core at Manchester City to a diverse portfolio spanning five continents, redefining global industry standards for multi-club management. Its overall brand equity is strongly anchored by the consistent elite on-pitch success of its flagship club Manchester City, which has claimed multiple domestic and continental titles to significantly boost the group's global visibility and prestige.

CFG's brand strength is further amplified by its innovative approach to cross-club talent development, commercial synergy, and digital fan engagement across its entire portfolio. Unlike traditional single-club ownership structures, CFG leverages shared resources and knowledge exchange across its network to create aggregated brand value that exceeds the sum of its individual club brands, attracting top-tier global sponsorship and media partners. The group has also prioritized proactive regulatory compliance to mitigate risks unique to multi-club ownership, strengthening trust among fans, football governing bodies, and commercial stakeholders.

Brand leadership

Score: 88/100

CFG holds the top position among global multi-club football ownership groups, outperforming direct rivals like Red Bull's football network in geographic spread and overall portfolio influence. The sustained success of its flagship Manchester City side has cemented CFG's reputation as a forward-thinking industry trailblazer, setting the global benchmark for modern multi-club operational models.

Fan-brand interaction

Score: 82/100

CFG engages a combined global fanbase of hundreds of millions across its club portfolio, leveraging digital platforms and cross-club collaborative content to drive consistent interaction. The group balances shared network initiatives with preservation of each club's unique local culture, maintaining strong grassroots connection with supporters alongside global digital engagement.

Growth momentum

Score: 90/100

CFG has delivered strong sustained growth since its formal establishment, expanding from a single club to more than a dozen owned or partially owned clubs across five continents. The group continues to target new market entry opportunities in high-growth emerging football regions, with steadily growing commercial revenue and increasing global brand visibility, reflecting strong upward momentum in brand development.

Organizational stability

Score: 85/100

CFG benefits from long-term, substantial financial backing from majority owners tied to the Abu Dhabi royal family, providing a high level of financial and organizational stability. The group has maintained consistent strategic direction and leadership through its rapid expansion, with minimal operational disruption, and a proven track record of regulatory compliance that reduces overall business risk.

Brand longevity

Score: 45/100

CFG as a formal corporate brand was founded in 2013, making it a relatively young entity in the football industry, which is dominated by century-old clubs and long-established ownership structures. While its flagship Manchester City boasts a long historical legacy, the CFG corporate brand itself has only existed for a little over a decade, limiting its accumulated historical brand equity compared to older industry entities.

Industry influence profile

Score: 87/100

CFG's innovative multi-club ownership model has reshaped the global football industry, prompting widespread adoption and imitation of its strategy by other sports investment groups. The group holds significant influence over key industry trends including talent development, cross-border commercialization, and digital fan engagement, with its practices closely watched by competitors, governing bodies, and industry stakeholders worldwide.

Global brand reach

Score: 92/100

CFG has built an unmatched truly global footprint among multi-club ownership groups, with club holdings across Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Oceania. This broad geographic spread allows CFG to tap into diverse regional fan bases and commercial markets, building a global brand presence that extends far beyond its original European core.

AI-generated reasoning can support analysis of City Football Group's brand value, and any associated figures provided in supplementary content are illustrative only. For formal audited brand value assessments and detailed professional valuation reports, contact World Brand Lab directly.

City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a British-based holding company that administers association football clubs. The group is owned by three organisations, of which 81% is majority-owned by Abu Dhabi United Group, 18% by the American firm Silver Lake, and 1% by Chinese firms China Media Capital and CITIC Capital.[1][2][3][4] The Abu Dhabi United Group is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan,[5] member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and vice president of the United Arab Emirates.[6][7]

The group derives its name from Manchester City, its flagship football club, and acts as the club's parent company. CFG also owns stakes in clubs in the United States, Australia, Japan, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, China, Belgium, France, Italy and Turkey.[8]

History

Founded in 2013, City Football Group is the realisation of a business vision by former Barcelona Economy Vice President Ferran Soriano. Soriano first conceived of the ideal of a global football entity while at the Catalan club, beginning with the creation of Barca-branded overseas academies.[9] Soriano contacted Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber about creating a Barcelona-branded MLS franchise, and the pair progressed as far as looking into several locations to place the team,[10] but ultimately these plans were curtailed when Soriano and seven other members of Barcelona's board chose to resign in protest of then-President Joan Laporta's leadership.[11]

After a four-year break from football management, Soriano was hired in late 2012 to replace Garry Cook as CEO of Manchester City following the latter's resignation.[12] Soriano revived his ambitions of creating a global football business entity, beginning by resuming dialogues with Garber.[10] Their discussions resulted in the announcement of New York City as MLS' 20th expansion side less than one year later in May 2013. In the process of managing the creation of a second football team City Football Group was created,[13] designed to be the holding company to which both Manchester City and NYCFC belonged. CFG expanded at the start of 2014 when it partnered with Rugby league side Melbourne Storm to acquire a controlling stake in A-League franchise Melbourne Heart for 12 million Australian dollars.[14] The club would subsequently be rebranded to Melbourne City, and their badge changed to a design similar to New York City's badge as part of CFG's early attempts to synergise their investments as a brand,[15] and the club's colours would slowly be changed to sky blue with their red-and-white stripes retained as away colours.[16]

In the weeks following their purchase of Melbourne City, CFG indicated their intentions of investing in women's football by rebranding Manchester City's female affiliate as Manchester City Women's Football Club,[17] and successfully lobbied for the team to be added to the top tier of the FA Women's Super League, promising to invest in women's football on a scale never before seen in England. Later the following year, CFG would grow again with the purchase of a 20% in Japanese side Yokohama F Marinos, the traditional company team of group sponsor Nissan.[18]

In April 2017, after a near three-year pause in its expansion, City Football Group announced the Uruguayan second-tier side Club Atletico Torque,[19] who would later be renamed Montevideo City Torque.[20] Several months later, Torque would be followed in by Spanish second division club Girona,[21] a club with ownership links to incumbent Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

2019 saw the beginning of an increase in CFG's activity. The purchase of Chinese third division club Shenzhen Peng City (known as Sichuan Jiuniu F.C. at that time)[22] was followed towards the end of the year by a second venture in Asia, when the group bought a controlling stake in Indian Super League franchise Mumbai City.[23] 2020 similarly would see two club purchases in European football, first of Lommel of Belgium[24] and then of Troyes of France,[25] with both acquisitions occurring amid financial challenges faced by clubs across European football during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] [26] In the same year they would also expand their business interests by taking sole control of US-based five-a-side football business Goals Soccer Centers, a business they had previously invested in, following the near-collapse of the company's owners due to an internal scandal.[27]

In March 2022, Dutch second-tier side NAC Breda announced that following an investigation into the best bidders to sell the club's shares, the shareholders of the club had agreed to a sale to CFG.[28] In response, the club's fans held protests both in Breda and also Manchester and Lommel.[29] A month later, a group of shareholders with key voting rights announced that, in light of the backlash, they had elected instead to sell their shares to a local consortium.[29]

In December 2025, due to uncertainty in Indian football, CFG divested their shares in Mumbai City, marking the end of their six-year stint as majority owners.[30]

Principles and interests

Since its inception, commenters have drawn parallels between City Football Group and Ferran Soriano's ideas spelled out in his 2011 book Goal: The Ball Doesn't Go In By Chance,[31] in which Soriano remarked that the natural evolution of club brands was to expand globally, and that doing so could include the creation of franchise clubs in foreign leagues.[32] His book continued to expound upon the notion that appealing to foreign fans who had no strongly-ingrained non-domestic allegiances was an important facet of business growth of sporting brands, and that giving those fans a domestic side to support alongside and affiliated to their European club could encourage more loyalty from them.[32] This idea would be termed "Disneyfication" by Professor Simon Chadwick,[33] an expert in Eurasian sport at Emlyon Business School and himself a confidant of Soriano.[10]

Branding and player development

Early growth in the group focused on teams sharing a common identity and an associated brand, which aligned with the traditional identity of Manchester City and was viewed as a key way of helping the Manchester club build up its foreign support.[10] This also matched Soriano's well-reported interest in placing City Football Group as a lynchpin in the opening-up of national markets in which association football has not previously been able to secure a strong presence, through the operation of and investment in franchises in those countries.[34][35]

The first entity to join CFG was the newly created New York City, with the club announcing that they would sport the familiar sky blue kit with white shorts which Manchester City have traditionally been associated with,[36] and the rebranded Melbourne City (originally named Melbourne Heart) similarly switched to sky blue after defeating challenges from fellow A-League club Sydney.[37] With the purchase of Mumbai City and the renaming of Club Atletico Torque to Montevideo City Torque, five teams in the group feature the word "City" in their name, and similarly all five wear sky blue kits. NYCFC's circular badge design would also be mimicked by the majority of the clubs in CFG: Melbourne City, Manchester City, Mumbai City, Torque, Girona, Lommel, and Shenzhen Peng City all went on to adopt badges with the same basic style.[38][39] Following from these changes, it was reported that the company's aim was to own a team on each continent with the "City" brand in its name.[40] They have aggressively defended the City brand, issuing a cease and desist letter against the Chilean side Santiago City for using a club crest similar to Manchester City's.[41]

Developments within Manchester City's academy would ultimately lead to a shift in strategy and focus of the group. Efforts to continue their success in bringing through youth talent led to the buying of promising players in the early teenage years, many of whom would go on to be sold for a large profit. This prompted Soriano and CFG's executive management to change their ambitions to put more emphasis on purchasing smaller clubs in strong existing football markets, with the intention of turning them into specialists centres for acquiring and training future stars from their local areas.[10]

Collaboration between clubs

One of the core philosophies of City Football Group since its inception has been the mutual supporting of clubs through combined scouting and player sharing. While virtually all large European clubs operate an international scouting network,[42] financial demands make it impossible to access local knowledge in foreign countries to the same extent as a domestic club could. CFG clubs therefore provide invaluable services to each other by using their own local scouting networks to share information on players between clubs. With their combined knowledge, the group claims to have extensive information on half a million players around the world.[26] Possessing such a network then allows the local clubs to sign players early in their development, safe in the knowledge that the range of clubs CFG owns means that they can be placed at any of a number of sides as their development continues and the need for other challenges arises.[26] The player-sharing element of the City network was first evident with the high-profile transfer of Aaron Mooy from Melbourne City to Manchester City – an early case of utilising the network to support revenue generation[43] – with the 2020–21 season seeing Manchester City send 14 foreign-sourced youth players out on loan, predominantly to other group clubs.[44]

In addition to internal player movements, CFG has also sought to foster movements of coaching staff within their network; among the most notable relocations are French manager Eric Mombaerts, who has worked with Yokohama F. Marinos, Melbourne City and Troyes,[45] Manchester City Women manager Nick Cushing transferring to New York[46] and English coach Liam Manning transferring from the NYCFC academy to take over management of Lommel's first team.[47]

The second of CFG's core philosophies regarding club collaboration is on- and off-pitch technical information sharing. Based around the tactics of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola – long coveted for the Manchester job by Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain after their experience working with him in Barcelona[48][49] – all of City Football Group's clubs are given access to extensive databases of Manchester City's tactics and coaching methods, enabling them all to follow the group directive to use the same style of football, a style occasionally referred to as "the City Way".[50] This synergy of tactical style extends beyond their first teams to the academies and women's sections. In addition to this, the clubs also share other information, such as medical, performance monitoring and player management.[10]

Investment in women's football

Four of City Football Group's ten clubs sport women's teams, with Montevideo City Torque expected to launch a women's team in 2021 and New York City having previously held discussions about an affiliation with Sky Blue in 2014.[51] In both Manchester and Melbourne, CFG (re)launched new women's sides in 2014 and 2015,[52][53] promising to invest in women's football in unprecedent ways. In both cities, the women's teams would ultimately be given bespoke facilities which, in contrast to the standard for football clubs, shared training locations with their affiliated men's teams.[54][55] Similarly, both cities would see returns for their investment, with Manchester City Women repeatedly finishing amongst the top two and winning a series of domestic trophies[56] while Melbourne City's unprecedented investment in Australian women's football – an area which had previously been underfunded and largely forgotten in the country – earned the side plaudits for their forward-thinking[57] and would see their female side crowned Grand Final winners four times in five seasons.[58]

Esports

Looking to capitalise on the growth of esports, and for City Football Group to be seen as always being at the forefront of innovation, CFG made their first venture into digital gaming in June 2016 when they signed Kieran "Kez" Brown to represent Manchester City at FIFA tournaments and fan events, as well as to make digital content for their media profiles.[59]

Over the following years, CFG expanded their esports footprint as most of their clubs signed players to represent them in FIFA tournaments, with most clubs keeping one PlayStation player and one Xbox player on their books to represent them at all times. By early 2021, CFG would have a total of 16 professional esports players across their various clubs.[60] In 2021, Manchester City became the first CFG club to expand beyond FIFA when they signed Aiden "Threats" Mong to represent them in Fortnite tournaments.[61] Unlike the other CFG teams, Manchester City would also go on to create separate esports teams in China[62] and South Korea[63] to compete in Asia-localised tournaments.

In addition to having their own esports players, CFG have also collaborated with existing teams. In 2019, Manchester City announced a partnership with FaZe Clan which would see the two run various esports competitions and merchandising lines, as well as allowing City's and FaZe's FIFA players to share facilities and train together.[64] In 2022, CFG announced that it was sponsoring Blue United eFC, in a move which would see Blue United wear CFG-style sky blue shirts at competitive events.[65]

CFG-owned clubs

UEFA

  • 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Manchester City
  • 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Manchester City Women
  • 🇪🇸 Girona
  • 🇪🇸 Girona Femení
  • 🇮🇹 Palermo
  • 🇮🇹 Palermo Women
  • 🇫🇷 Troyes
  • 🇧🇪 Lommel

CONCACAF

  • 🇺🇸 New York City
  • 🇺🇸 New York City II

AFC

  • 🇦🇺 Melbourne City
  • 🇦🇺 Melbourne City Women
  • 🇯🇵 Yokohama F. Marinos
  • 🇨🇳 Shenzhen Peng City

CONMEBOL

  • Montevideo City Torque
  • 🇧🇷 Bahia
  • 🇧🇷 Bahia (Women)

Former

  • 🇮🇳 Mumbai City (2019–2025)

CFG partner clubs

UEFA

  • 🇫🇷 Vannes
  • 🇹🇷 İstanbul Başakşehir

AFC

  • 🇸🇬 Geylang International
  • Al Jazira

CONMEBOL

  • 🇧🇴 Club Bolivar

Club Bolivar

It was announced on 12 January 2021 that Club Bolivar had become the first partner club for the group.<r[66] Club Bolivar is the most successful Bolivian club, having won 30 domestic titles since it was founded in La Paz on 12 April 1925. The owner of Club Bolivar, Marcelo Claure, would go on to join the ownership group of New York City FC in September 2024, taking a 10% interest in the MLS club.<r[67]

Honours after partnership :

  • División de Fútbol Profesional (2): 2022-A, 2024
  • Copa de la División Profesional (1): 2023

Vannes

It was announced on 17 February 2021 that French fourth tier side Vannes had become the latest partner club for the group.<r[68] The two clubs were already linked after Vannes' President Maxime Ray had joined CFG to become a minority shareholder in Troyes as part of the 2020 purchase, though he agreed to have no operational role at Troyes as part of the takeover.<r[69]

Geylang International

It was announced on 1 February 2023 that Singapore Premier League club Geylang International had become the first Southeast Asian partner club for the group.<r[70] The agreement is set to be an initial, highly targeted collaboration between both entities with the potential to evolve into a broader, more comprehensive strategic partnership in the future.

İstanbul Başakşehir

It was revealed on 18 February 2024 that Turkish Süper Lig club İstanbul Başakşehir signed an agreement with the group in order to improve their football strategy, recruitment, scouting and coaching methodology. {[71] Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the majority owner of City Football Group, is the chairman of Al Jazira club dating back to before his initial takeover of Manchester City F.C.

Businesses

Goals Soccer Centers

On 25 July 2017, City Football Group signed a joint venture partnership with Goals Soccer Centres, a 5-a-side football pitch operator, to invest capital into the US operations of the company in order to expand across North America. On 3 February 2020, CFG purchased the remaining 50% to take full ownership of the joint venture

See also

  • Manchester City ownership and finances

References

  1. CFG Announces US$500 Million Strategic Investment by Silver Lake 27 November 2019^
  2. CFG Statement: 1 December 2015 Manchester City F.C., 1 December 2015, retrieved 1 December 2015^
  3. Silver Lake ups stake in Manchester City owner Financial Times, 16 September 2022, retrieved 16 September 2022^
  4. Samuel Agini. Silver Lake ramps up stake in Manchester City owner Financial Times, 25 November 2022, retrieved 25 November 2022^
  5. Company Overview of Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment Bloomberg Businessweek, retrieved 27 June 2012^
  6. Randall, Colin. Mansour to replace Man City directors TheNational.ae, 9 September 2008, retrieved 1 October 2008^
  7. UAE Federal e-Government Portal - Ministry of Presidential Affairs government.ae, retrieved 1 October 2008^
  8. City Football Group add ESTAC Troyes as tenth club cityfootballgroup.com, 3 September 2020, retrieved 3 September 2020^
  9. FCBEscola fcbarcelona.com, retrieved 1 March 2021^
  10. Special report: City Football Group. Part one – empire building The Athletic, 9 December 2020, retrieved 1 March 2021^
  11. Eight Barça Board Members Resign Amid Laporta Chaos goal.com, 10 July 2008, retrieved 1 March 2021^
  12. CITY ANNOUNCE NEW CEO mancity.com, 17 August 2012, retrieved 1 March 2021^
  13. Our Story cityfootballgroup.com, retrieved 1 March 2021^
  14. Tom Smithies. Manchester City buys Heart The Daily Telegraph, 23 January 2014^
  15. MELBOURNE HEART RENAMED MELBOURNE CITY FC mancity.com, 5 Jun 2014, retrieved 1 March 2021^
  16. Melbourne City kit change will mirror Manchester City's blue Herald Sun, 1 July 2016, retrieved 1 March 2021^
  17. Manchester City Women's Football Club re-launched 24 February 2014, retrieved 10 April 2016^
  18. Manchester City reveals plan to invest in Yokohama F. Marinos The Japan Times, 20 May 2014, retrieved 15 December 2014^
  19. CFG EXTENDS SOUTH AMERICAN FOOTPRINT mancity.com, Manchester City, retrieved 5 April 2017^
  20. Con una impronta empresarial, el City Group busca darle un nuevo giro a Torque elobservador.com.uy, 22 January 2020, retrieved 23 January 2020^
  21. Girona FC, acquired by new investors Girona FC, retrieved 23 August 2017^
  22. 曼城母公司收购四川九牛获官方宣布 Sina.com, 20 February 2019, retrieved 20 February 2019^
  23. CFG acquires majority stake in Indian Super League's Mumbai City FC City Football Group, 27 November 2019, retrieved 28 November 2019^
  24. Kogel is door de kerk: Lommel gaat in zee met Manchester City sporza.be, 11 May 2020, retrieved 11 May 2020^
  25. Troyes AC: Manchester City owners City Football Group acquire Ligue 2 club Sky Sports, retrieved 3 September 2020^
  26. Special report: City Football Group. Part two – does it work? The Athletic, 10 December 2020, retrieved 4 March 2021^
  27. Tabby Kinder, Myles McCormick. Goals Soccer Centres' former executives accused of fraud Financial Times, 2 August 2019, retrieved 3 February 2020^
  28. UPDATE AANDELENVERKOOP VANUIT CROSSMINDS NAC Breda, 23 March 2022, retrieved 24 April 2022^
  29. City Football Group plan to buy NAC Breda fails after supporter backlash The Guardian, 2022-04-22, retrieved 2022-04-23^
  30. Football giant CFG ends deal with Mumbai City 25 December 2025^
  31. New York City FC leave Manchester as their own team ahead of MLS debut ESPN, 20 February 2015, retrieved 4 March 2021^
  32. Ferran Soriano. Goal: The Ball Doesn't Go In By Chance Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, retrieved 4 March 2021^
  33. Man City's Disney-esque quest for world domination... in football and beyond goal.com, 26 March 2020, retrieved 4 March 2021^
  34. 'It's thoroughly complex': How City Football Group is redefining soccer club ownership sportspromedia.com, 27 January 2020, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  35. UNTAPPED POTENTIAL – THE IMPORTANCE OF ASIA TO EUROPEAN FOOTBALL worldfootballsummit.com, 4 September 2018, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  36. New York City FC reveal first ever home strip alongside Etihad Airways sponsorship deal The Mirror, 13 November 2014, retrieved 4 March 2021^
  37. Sydney FC need to relax over Melbourne Heart's sky blue thinking The Guardian, 17 April 2014, retrieved 13 April 2021^
  38. New York City FC matthewwolff.com, Matthew Wolff Design, retrieved 30 March 2024^
  39. Montevideo City Torque launches brand-new identity to kick-off season cityfootballgroup.com, 23 January 2020, retrieved 4 March 2021^
  40. Miguel Delaney. Manchester City ownership group plans Chinese Super League expansion ESPNFC, ESPN, 18 March 2016, retrieved 23 March 2017^
  41. TNT Sports is not available in your region^
  42. Beautiful and mathematical: Football as a numbers game BBC Sport, 14 September 2016, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  43. Introducing Aaron Mooy – Manchester City's new signing who may never play for them goal.com, July 2016, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  44. Man City's 14 loanees and how their seasons are going including Angelino and Yan Couto Manchester Evening News, 10 October 2020, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  45. Troyes : François Vitali directeur sportif, Erick Mombaerts conseiller technique footmercato.net, 4 March 2021, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  46. Nick Cushing nycfc.com, 9 January 2020, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  47. New York City FC Academy Director Liam Manning to Become Head Coach of Lommel SK nycfc.com, 10 July 2020, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  48. How Manchester City embraced the Barcelona blueprint The Guardian, 17 February 2014, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  49. Pep Guardiola to Manchester City: Meet the men who brought the world's most wanted boss to the Etihad Daily Mirror, 1 February 2016, retrieved 13 March 2021^
  50. MLS weekend preview: have NYC FC finally learned 'the City way'? The Guardian, 18 March 2016, retrieved 8 April 2017^
  51. NEWSSource: Sky Blue, NYCFC to hold preliminary meeting equalizersoccer.com, 8 September 2014, retrieved 5 March 2021^
  52. Manchester City Women's Football Club re-launched mcfc.co.uk, 23 January 2014, retrieved 5 March 2021^
  53. Melbourne City FC set to field W-League team in 2015 melbournecityfc.com.au, 13 May 2015, retrieved 13 May 2015^
  54. Man City Women hail "spectacular" CFA Manchester Evening News, 9 December 2014, retrieved 5 March 2021^
  55. Melbourne City FC launch Elite Women's Training Facility at CFA Melbourne melbournecityfc.com.au, 24 November 2016, retrieved 5 March 2021^
  56. 7 in 7 mancity.com, January 2021, retrieved 5 March 2021^
  57. Why clubs hate Melbourne City The World Game, 28 November 2016, retrieved 6 March 2021^
  58. Melbourne City crowned W-League champions after beating Sydney FC 1-0 in grand final Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 21 March 2020, retrieved 6 March 2021^
  59. Manchester City sign first e-sports player BBC Sport, 7 July 2016, retrieved 7 April 2017^
  60. Inside Man City's esports team with professional FIFA stars Ryan Pessoa and 'Shellzz' Daily Mirror, 10 February 2021, retrieved 15 January 2022^
  61. CITY SIGN FORTNITE STAR AIDAN 'THREATS' MONG mancity.com, 5 October 2021, retrieved 15 January 2022^
  62. MANCHESTER CITY'S HISTORIC CHINA ESPORTS LAUNCH mancity.com, 5 June 2018, retrieved 15 January 2022^
  63. CITY AND NEXON UNVEIL CLUB'S LATEST ESPORTS TEAM mancity.com, 20 November 2019, retrieved 15 January 2022^
  64. CITY AND FAZE CLAN LAUNCH COLLABORATION mancity.com, 26 September 2019, retrieved 15 January 2022^
  65. CFG TO COLLABORATE WITH BLUE UNITED EFC IN JAPAN mancity.com, 14 January 2022, retrieved 15 January 2022^
  66. Club Bolivar joins City Football Group as first Partner Club www.cityfootballgroup.com, 11 January 2021, retrieved 2021-01-20^
  67. Marcelo Claure Joins New York City FC Ownership Group newyorkcityfc.com, New York City FC, 17 September 2024, retrieved 7 October 2024^
  68. le vannes olympique club conclut un partenariat avec city football group www.vannesoc.com, 18 February 2021, retrieved 18 February 2021^
  69. Football. Maxime Ray (Vannes OC) n'aura " pas de rôle opérationnel " à Troyes Le Télégramme, 3 September 2020, retrieved 18 February 2021^
  70. Geylang International and City Football Group sign collaboration agreement February 2023^
  71. On September 9 2025 it was announced that the group would be collaborating with UAE Pro League club Al Jazira, an expansion upon existing consultation work with Al Jazira Academy. Sanjeev Shewhorak. City Football Group and Al Jazira Club announce strategic football collaboration City Football Group, 10 September 2025^