LONDON: Manchester City’s owner is the City Football Group of which a 78pc share is owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment. This is a private company owned by 50-year-old Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sheikh Mansour is Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, minister of presidential affairs and a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. He is a half brother of the current President of UAE, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and has business interests also in Virgin Galactic and Sky News Arabia.

The ‘hands-on’ chairman of City is Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, 45. He is considered one of the most trusted advisers of the Abu Dhabi royal family.

ADUG bought City in 2008 from the Thai politician Thaksin Shinawatra for £200m. It immediately spent a then British record transfer in buying Brazilian winger Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5m.

In 2013 ADUG created City Football Group to manage the company’s worldwide sporting interests and ambitions. Now it owns a controlling stake in not only City but Mumbai City FC (India), Melbourne City FC (Australia), New York City FC (United States), Lommel (Belgium), Troyes (France) and Montevideo City Torque (Uruguay). CFG has minority stakes in Girona (Spain), Sichuan Jiuniu FC (China) and Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan).

The company also has extensive property interests in the United Arab Emirates and in Manchester. It is valued at $4.8bn. The overall investment in Manchester City since 2008 is estimated at £1.7bn.

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