(CNN Spanish) — Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, from the United Arab Emirates, has owned Manchester City since 2008 and financed a huge, million-pound project that has so far fallen short of its biggest goal, but is closer than ever to this year achieve it : lift the Champions League.
Mansour owns the Abu Dhabi United Group fund, which bought Manchester City for an amount between 350 and 400 million dollars. Abu Dhabi United Group is the majority owner of City Football Group, which joins Manchester City has clubs New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama F. Marinos, Montevideo City, Girona FC, Palermo and Bahia, among others.
The Sheikh is a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family and recently he was appointed as Vice President of the UAE.
Mansour, 52, had been deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates since 2009, and since this year he has been president of Mubadala, one of the UAE’s sovereign wealth funds which manages assets with a worth US$17,000 million.
What you should know about the Emirati monarchy
The UAE, an oil-rich country, is a member of the OPEC oil cartel and controls some of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. The nation is a federation of seven emirates, each with its own ruling family, which also includes the regional commercial and tourist hub of Dubai.
Mansour bin Zayed is the son of Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al Nahyan, governor of Abu Dhabi from 1966 to 2004 and president of the United Arab Emirates from 1971 to 2004.
Mansour’s half-brother is Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), President of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi since May 2022. MBZ became the Persian Gulf nation’s president following the death of his brother Sheikh Khalifa.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed shares the seat of Vice President of the United Arab Emirates with the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR), 73, who is also the father-in-law of the owner of the City. Previously, the post of vice president was held exclusively by the ruler of Dubai.
A millionaire team
Since taking over Manchester City, Mansour has made it clear this was a long-term project. In 2008 declared: “We are building a structure for the future, not just a team of stars.”
But the stars, in any case, have been the constant.
Under his leadership, Manchester City has made millionaire purchases, such as Robinho in 2008, Carlos Tévez in 2009, Yaya Touré and David Silva in 2010, Sergio Agüero in 2011, Kevin De Bruyne in 2015, Jack Grealish and Julián Álvarez in 2021 and the signing of Erling Haaland in 2022.
Also noteworthy is the arrival in 2016 of Pep Guardiola as technical director of the team, with whom Manchester City has completely dominated English football ever since.
Today the team has a total market value of €1,050 million ($1,128 million), according to Transfermarkt.
Since coming under Emirati ownership, the club has won seven Premier Leagues, three FA Cups, six EFL Cups and three Community Shields. They reached the Champions League final in 2021.
With reporting by CNN’s Celine Alkhaldi and Henry Young
