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]
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]
CFG-owned clubs
UEFA
- 🏴 Manchester City
- 🏴 Manchester City Women
- 🇪🇸 Girona
- 🇪🇸 Girona Femení
- 🇮🇹 Palermo
- 🇮🇹 Palermo Women
- 🇫🇷 Troyes
- 🇧🇪 Lommel
CONCACAF
- 🇺🇸 New York City
CFG partner clubs
UEFA
- 🇫🇷 Vannes
- 🇹🇷 İstanbul Başakşehir
AFC
- 🇸🇬 Geylang International
- Al Jazira
CONMEBOL
- 🇧🇴 Club Bolivar
Club Bolivar
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
- CFG Announces US$500 Million Strategic Investment by Silver Lake 27 November 2019^
- CFG Statement: 1 December 2015 Manchester City F.C., 1 December 2015, retrieved 1 December 2015^
- Silver Lake ups stake in Manchester City owner