City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
that administers
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
clubs. The group is owned by three organisations; of which 81% is majority owned by
Newton Investment and Development LLC, 18% by the American firm
Silver Lake
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
and 1% by Chinese firms
China Media Capital
China Media Capital ( Chinese: 华人文化) is a public equity and venture capital firm specializing in growth capital, mid venture, late venture, emerging growth, corporate restructuring, management buyouts, and mergers & acquisitions. The fir ...
and
CITIC Capital.
The group derives its name from
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club are an English football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football ...
, its flagship football club and acts as the club's parent company. CFG also owns stakes in clubs in the United States, Australia, India, Japan, Spain, Uruguay, China, Belgium, France and Italy.
History
Founded in 2013, City Football Group is the realisation of a business vision by former
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
Economy Vice President
Ferran Soriano
Ferran Soriano i Compte (born 16 June 1967 in Barcelona) is a Spanish businessman who is the chief executive officer of the Premier League club Manchester City F.C. He also operates in the same role for Major League Soccer's New York City F.C. ...
. 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. Soriano contacted
Major League Soccer Commissioner
Don Garber
Donald P. Garber (born October 9, 1957) is an American sports executive who has served as the Commissioner of Major League Soccer since 1999. Garber is also the CEO of Soccer United Marketing and a member of the United States Soccer Federation ...
about creating a Barcelona-branded MLS franchise and the pair progressed as far as looking into several locations to place the team,
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
Joan Laporta Estruch (; born 29 June 1962) is a Spanish politician and current president of FC Barcelona.
Laporta is a lawyer (he graduated from the University of Barcelona) with his own firm, Laporta & Arbós, which has a number of notable Sp ...
's leadership.
After a four-year break from football management, Soriano was hired in late 2012 to replace
Garry Cook
Garry Peter Cook (born 10 January 1958) is a former British track and field athlete, who competed mainly in the 800 metres with a best time of 1:44.55 minutes.
Athletics career
He competed for Great Britain in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in L ...
as CEO of Manchester City following the latter's resignation. Soriano revived his ambitions of creating a global football business entity, beginning by resuming dialogues with Garber.
Their discussions resulted in the announcement of
New York City FC
New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...
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, 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
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
side
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...
to acquire a controlling stake in
A-League franchise
Melbourne Heart
Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Profession ...
for 12 million
Australian dollars
The Australian dollar (sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Island ...
.
The club would subsequently be rebranded to ''Melbourne City FC'' and their badge changed as part of CFG's early attempts to synergise their investments with Manchester City as a brand, and the club's colours would slowly be changed to sky blue with their red-and-white stripes retained as away colours.
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''
and successfully lobbied for the team to be added to the top tier of the
FA Women's Super League
The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...
, 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
is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country.
Having won the J-League title four times an ...
, the traditional company team of group sponsor
Nissan.
In April 2017, after a near three-year pause in its expansion, City Football Group announced the Uruguayan second-tier side
Club Atletico Torque,
who would later be renamed Montevideo City Torque.
Several months later Torque would be followed in by Spanish second division club
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
,
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
Sichuan Jiuniu
Sichuan Jiuniu Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 四川九牛足球俱乐部) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The te ...
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
The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...
franchise
Mumbai City
Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014, during the inaugural season of ...
.
2020 similarly would see two club purchases in European football, first of
Lommel
Lommel () is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt.
Besides residential town of Lommel also ha ...
of Belgium
and then of
Troyes of France,
with both moves notably seeing the purchased clubs rescued from financial difficulties
and linked to the economic damages wrought by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
In the same year they would also expand their business interests by taking sole control of
US-based
five-a-side football
Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper). Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. Matches are ...
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.
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. In response, the club's fans held protests both in
Breda and also
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and
Lommel
Lommel () is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt.
Besides residential town of Lommel also ha ...
.
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.
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'', 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.
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.
This idea would be termed "
Disneyfication In the field of sociology, the term Disneyfication—or Disneyization—describes the commercial transformation of things (e.g. entertainment) or environments into something simplified, controlled, and 'safe'—reminiscent of the Walt Disney brand ( ...
" by Professor
Simon Chadwick
Simon Leslie Chadwick (born 15 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He made two appearances in the English Football League as a teenager in the 1980s with Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a ...
,
an expert in Eurasian sport at
Emlyon Business School and himself a confidant of Soriano.
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.
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
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
has not previously been able to secure a strong presence, through the operation of and investment in franchises in those countries.
The first entity to join CFG was the newly created New York City FC, with the club announcing that they would sport the familiar sky blue kit with white shorts which Manchester City have traditionally been associated with, and the rebranded Melbourne City (originally named Melbourne Heart) similarly switched to sky blue after defeating challenges from fellow A-League club
Sydney FC. 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 style would also be mimicked by Manchester City, Melbourne City and Torque. 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.
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.
As a result, the emphasis on clubs sharing kit colours and having discernibly similar badges and names has been reduced. Outside of Manchester, the European clubs within CFG in particular have not seen any change to their identities beyond the use of sky blue as a change strip colour in Girona. Similar is true of Asian clubs Yokohama F. Marinos and Sichuan Jiuniu.
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, 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 advertises that it has extensive information on half a million players around the world.
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.
The player-sharing element of the City network was first advertised 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 – with the 2020–21 season seeing Manchester City send 14 foreign-sourced youth players out on loan, predominantly to other group clubs.
In addition to internal player movements, CFG has also sought to foster movements of coaching staff within their network also; among the most notable relocations are French manager
Eric Mombaerts, who has worked with Yokohama F. Marinos, Melbourne City and Troyes, Manchester City Women manager
Nick Cushing
Nick Cushing (born 9 November 1984) is an English football manager who is the head coach for New York City FC in Major League Soccer.
Career Manchester City Women
Originally joining the club in a junior role in 2008, Cushing worked his way thr ...
transferring to New York and English coach
Liam Manning
Liam Manning (born 20 August 1985) is an English football manager and coach. He is currently the Head Coach of EFL League One club Oxford United.
Playing career
Manning played for the academy of his local side Norwich City before joining Ipswic ...
transferring from the NYCFC academy to take over management of Lommel's first team.
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 – 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''. 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.
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 FC having previously held discussions about an affiliation with
Sky Blue FC
NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...
in 2014. In both Manchester and Melbourne, CFG (re)launched new women's sides in 2014 and 2015,
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. 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 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 and would see their female side crowned Grand Final winners four times in five seasons.
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 social media profiles.
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
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...
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.
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. Unlike the other CFG teams, Manchester City would also go on to create separate esports teams in China and South Korea 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
FaZe Clan (formerly FaZe Sniping) is a professional esports and entertainment organization headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA. Founded on May 30, 2010, the organization has players from around the world, across multiple games, i ...
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. 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.
CFG owned clubs
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City trace their origins back to 1880, taking their present name in the year 1894.
The club was one of the founding members of the
Football League Second Division
The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...
in 1892
and first gained promotion to the top division of English football in 1899, in the process becoming the first team in history to be promoted via automatic promotion. They are ranked as one of the top ten clubs in England for most seasons spent in the English top flight, and top five for
most major honours won. Their first trophy came in the
1904 FA Cup Final
The 1904 FA Cup Final was a football match between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City on 23 April 1904 at Crystal Palace in London. The showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (be ...
;
in total, at the point of their acquisition by City Football Group, they had won two
top flight league titles, four
FA Cups, two
League Cups, one
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...
and three
FA Community Shields.
After its takeover,
Manchester City launched into a complete overhaul of all departments, intent on rising to the top as fast as possible. On the pitch, the following seasons saw the team replaced under the management of
Mark Hughes
Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City.
During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...
and then a second time under
Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team.
As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sa ...
as the lobbying of established
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
clubs in the Premier League forced the Manchester team to act quickly in order to achieve
Champions League status before the newly implemented
Financial Fair Play Regulations made it unviable for teams to spend outside of their earnings in an attempt to move up the table. Meanwhile, off the pitch City spent £10 million on revamping their Platt Lane academy base as they formulated plans to produce a £100m training and academy facility on land opposite their stadium, studying training facilities around the world in an attempt to create the world's foremost development in its field. This came in conjunction with the announcement in 2014 that they had received planning permission to increase their stadium capacity to over 62,000, making it the second largest club stadium in England. Further investment came in the field of fan engagement, where City committed themselves to a policy of winning the global popularity contest with a mass display of social media. Since the start of the
2016–17 season,
Manchester City have been coached by former
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Found ...
player and coach and
FC Bayern Munich coach
Pep Guardiola.
Under City Football Group, Manchester City Football Club have lifted the
2010–11 FA Cup
The 2010–11 FA Cup (known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON for sponsorship reasons) was the 130th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition; the FA Cup. A total of 806 clubs applied to enter of which 759 were accepted, a slight ...
,
2011–12 Premier League
The 2011–12 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 13 August 2011 and ended on 13 May 2012 with Manchester Ci ...
,
2012 FA Community Shield,
2013–14 Football League Cup
The 2013–14 Football League Cup (known as the Capital One Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 54th season of the Football League Cup, a knock-out competition for the top 92 football clubs played in English football league system. Swansea Cit ...
,
2013–14 Premier League
The 2013–14 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season of the Premier League, the top-flight English professional league for men's football clubs, and the 115th season of top-flight Engli ...
,
2015–16 Football League Cup
The 2015–16 Football League Cup (known as the Capital One Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 56th season of the Football League Cup. It began on 11 August 2015 and concluded on 28 February 2016. It is a knock-out competition for the top 92 f ...
,
2017–18 EFL Cup,
2017–18 Premier League
The 2017–18 Premier League was the 26th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the 119th season of top-flight English football overall. The season ...
,
2018 FA Community Shield
The 2018 FA Community Shield (also known as The FA Community Shield supported by McDonald's for sponsorship reasons) was the 96th FA Community Shield, an annual football match played between the title holders of the Premier League and FA Cup. It w ...
,
2018–19 EFL Cup
The 2018–19 EFL Cup was the 59th season of the EFL Cup. Also known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, the competition was open to all 92 clubs participating in the Premier League and the English Football League. The first round was playe ...
,
2018–19 Premier League
The 2018–19 Premier League was the 27th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the 120th season of top-flight English football overall. The season ...
,
2018–19 FA Cup
The 2018–19 FA Cup (also known as the Football Association Challenge Cup) was the 138th edition of the oldest association football, football tournament in the world. It was sponsored by Emirates (airline), Emirates and known as The Emirates F ...
,
2019 FA Community Shield
The 2019 FA Community Shield (also known as The FA Community Shield supported by McDonald's for sponsorship reasons) was the 97th FA Community Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Premier League and ...
,
2019–20 EFL Cup,
2020–21 EFL Cup
The 2020–21 EFL Cup was the 61st season of the EFL Cup (known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons), the competition is open to all clubs participating in the Premier League and the English Football League.
Manchester City were the three ...
,
2020–21 Premier League
The 2020–21 Premier League was the 29th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992 and the 122nd season of top-flight English football overall. The season w ...
and
2021–22 Premier League
The 2021–22 Premier League was the 30th season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1992, and the 123rd season of top-flight English football overall. The start a ...
. City's best European result in that timespan was a
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
* Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
in the
2020–21 UEFA Champions League
The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea defea ...
.
In April 2022, a report from
Der Spiegel, based on leaked internal documents, claimed that the Abu Dhabi owners had previously made payments into the club disguised as sponsorship payments by Emirati companies like
Etihad
Etihad Airways ( ar, شَرِكَة ٱلْاِتِّحَاد لِلطَّيْرَان, sharikat al-ittiḥād li-ṭ-ṭayarān) is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa ...
and
Etisalat (the same claim that the club had successfully defended at CAS in 2020); Sheikh Mansour's
Abu Dhabi United Group
The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG; ar, مجموعة أبوظبي الاتحاد للتنمية والاستثمار) is a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based private equity company. It is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Z ...
had allegedly indirectly paid for underage players to sign with the club; and that the club had allegedly used a fictitious contract between Roberto Mancini and Mansour's
Al Jazira Club
Al Jazira Club is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that currently competes in the UAE Pro League.
History
Al-Jazira was established in 1974 as a merger between ''Khalidiyah'' and ''Al Bateen''. The club struggled to st ...
to pay large compensation fees to the former manager, in addition to his salary. The three cases were under investigation by the Premier League for the last three years. In response the club dismissed these claims as untrue, where sources close to the club said the report was a continuation of an “orchestrated campaign” and part of “an endless attempt to damage us”.
Manchester City Women
Although Manchester City Women had existed since 1988 (previously under the name ''Manchester City Ladies F.C.'') they existed solely as an external affiliate of the club until August 2012, with few shared resources and with CFG enjoying no control over the club's management. Four years after the purchase of Manchester City, an agreement was signed in which the affiliated women's team would come under full control of Manchester City and would effectively become a department of the same organisation.
Shortly after taking control of the club, the side was relaunched as ''Manchester City Women's Football Club''
and applied successfully to join the top tier of English women's football - the recently created
FA Women's Super League
The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...
. When the
new Manchester City training ground was constructed it was specifically designed to include the women's team as equal partners, and the encouragement of the women's team to have access to the same sports science and analysts as the men's teams was considered pioneering at the time. They won their first major in the
2014 FA WSL Cup, and they have become one of the most successful sides in the professional era of women's football in England, with a total of
one league title, three
Women's FA Cups and
four FA WSL Cups.
New York City FC
Founded in 2013, New York City FC joined the American
Major League Soccer as the 20th expansion team; their first season of actual competition was in 2015, alongside
Orlando City SC.
To date they are the only team built from scratch by City Football Group. CFG own 80% of NYCFC, with the remaining 20% owned by
Yankee Global Enterprises
Yankee Global Enterprises, LLC, formerly YankeeNets, LLC, is an American limited liability company (LLC) which owns the New York Yankees baseball team, along with a plurality stake in YES Network and a 20% and 10% stake in New York City FC and AC ...
, the parent company of the
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
baseball club, at whose home stadium they play their matches.
The club's first employee was former Manchester City and US national team player
Claudio Reyna
Claudio Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is an American former professional soccer player and current executive. He most recently served as sporting director of Austin FC.
A former midfielder, he spent most of his professional career in Europe, pla ...
, who was appointed as Director of Football and undertook much of the initial building of the club before moving on in 2019.
Building on their work in Manchester, City Football Group announced the creation of a bespoke training facility, using the name "
City Football Academy" as would become standard across the group, in
Orangeburg, New York
Orangeburg is a hamlet and census-designated place, in the town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Tappan, south of Blauvelt, east of Pearl River and west of Piermont. The population was 4,568 at the ...
, just outside of the city limits: it opened in 2018. New York City FC's first season results were modest, but since their second season they have made the
MLS Cup Playoffs
The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams quali ...
in every season. They lifted the
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
for the first time in
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
.
New York City FC II
In late 2021, MLS announced the creation of a new division which the
USSF recognised as a third-tier league in the
US football league pyramid. NYCFC were announced to be one of the 21 clubs which would enter it as a founder-member. To this end, they launched a development team, called New York City FC II (frequently referred to as ''NYCFC II'' or ''NYCFC2'').
Melbourne City FC
One of seven expansion sides in the
A-League Men
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...
, Melbourne City originally joined their league as a new franchise in 2010 under the name of ''Melbourne Heart''. In so doing, they became the first club to join the league in a city where the A-League already had a presence, instantly creating a rivalry with founder member
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...
in what is now known as the
Melbourne derby. Although the Heart won the first Melbourne derby their early performances in the league were poor, qualifying for the playoffs only once in the first four seasons and finishing in last place in the
2013–14 season.
City Football Group's purchase of Melbourne Heart was announced on 23 January 2014, in a deal worked out with a consortium of businessmen related to local
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
club
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...
.
Under the new ownership, the Heart changed its name to Melbourne City in June of the same year, with the club switching to sky blue jerseys in 2017 - their previous red and white stripes would be retained as their away colours, however. In 2015 they opened a new
City Football Academy facility at
La Trobe University
La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...
based on the designs and principles of the Manchester training ground of the same name,
and began construction of a larger base in the south of the city in 2021. In 2016 the club won their first major honour by beating
Sydney FC in the
final of the Australia Cup (then known as the ''FFA Cup''), while they claimed their first league trophies by winning both the A-League Premier's Plate and the A-League Champions Trophy in 2021.
Melbourne City Youth
As part of the expansion of the
National Premier Leagues Victoria 1
The National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, commonly referred to as NPL Victoria 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is the second-highest in the Victorian league system, behind the National Premier Leagues Vi ...
(now known as NPL Victoria 2), Melbourne City had an application accepted to field a team based around their
now-defunct Youth side in the competition along with five additional new entrants. On 6 December 2014 they announced the creation of their NPL team, which began competition in the
2015 season.
Although Melbourne City have seen much success in the junior age categories they have not repeated this at the professional level, with no trophy wins. In 2019, when NPL Victoria 2 was split in half to create a new, lower, third tier NPL division, Melbourne City were one of the teams relegated to the lower level.
Melbourne City Women
Following the success of their investment in Manchester City's women's team, CFG announced their continued support of women's football with the creation of a women's department in Melbourne in 2015 which was accepted as an expansion team in the
W-League.
Since its inception the W-League had seen low levels of financial support from clubs into their female sides, with teams rarely spending even half of their budget cap. In this environment, Melbourne City were able to sweep the board in
their first season, going undefeated all season to win both the league and the playoff trophies and setting a number of records. In total, Melbourne City have won the Premiership twice (in
2015–16 and
2019–20) and the championship four times (in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
,
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
,
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
and
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
).
Yokohama F. Marinos
As with many clubs in Japan, Yokohama F. Marinos were founded as a
factory team
A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company.
Association footb ...
of car manufacturing giant
Nissan, and originally played under the name ''Nissan Motors F.C.''
Though the club changed its name to ''Yokohama Marinos'' when they turned professional in 1993,
throughout their history they have remainder under Nissan's majority ownership. In 1999 the club merged with local rivals
Yokohama Flugels
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
after the Flugels went into insolvancy - the combination of the two teams resulted in the current name ''Yokohama F. Marinos''. Over their history they have been one of Japan's more successful clubs, winning the Japanese top division league title on six occasions along with twelve domestic cups and two continental trophies.
On 20 May 2014, it was announced that City Football Group had invested in a minority share of
Yokohama F. Marinos
is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country.
Having won the J-League title four times an ...
, creating a partnership with both the football club and car manufacturer
Nissan.
Through their contacts in the game, CFG would bring several managers in succession to Yokohama. Australian
Ange Postecoglou would be the most successful, winning the
2019 J1 League
The 2019 J1 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs (This league is generally not considered to be one of the top five leagues i ...
, the club's first league title for 15 seasons.
At the same time, pundits noted that Yokohama's switch to playing a CFG-inspired possession game had influenced the way that football was played in Japan, with many other teams copying their style.
Montevideo City Torque
Montevideo City Torque were first created as ''Club Atlético Torque'' in 2007.
The club adopted the moniker ''Torque'' as one of its founders was an electromechanic, and collectively the founders liked the concept of
torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
as a relationship between power and movement.
Starting from the third tier - at that time the lowest level of the
Uruguayan football league system The Uruguayan football (soccer), football league system is a series of interconnected football leagues for clubs in Uruguay, and is organized by the Uruguayan Football Association at the national level. The Uruguayan Primera División, Uruguayan Lea ...
- the club made steady progress, earning promotion to the
Segunda División in 2011 achieving finishes in the top half of the Segunda División table by 2015.
On 5 April 2017, CFG announced that it had acquired
Club Atletico Torque, a club in
Montevideo currently playing in the
Uruguayan Primera División
The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uru ...
.
That season, the club won the Segunda División by nine points, being promoted to the
Primera División for the first time. Though they came close to winning the
Torneo Intermedio
The Torneo Intermedio was a knockout competition played by 16 football teams.
History 1993
The Torneo Intermedio was played during the 1993 Copa América with only Peruvian Primera División
The Peru First Division (; ''First Division'') — ...
- which would have qualified them for the
Copa Sudamericana - they would at the end of the season fall foul of the Primera División relegation rules, which saw the bottom three teams relegated based on a two-year rolling average of points per game. Nevertheless, they would win the Segunda División again in 2019 to return to the top flight again. In 2020 the club would also rename itself to ''Montevideo City Torque'' and alter the club badge, simultaneously announcing the creation of a training facility and academy system intended to be one of the best in South America.
Montevideo City Torque Femenino
In 2021 Montevideo City Torque announced that they were creating a women's team, borne from City Football Group's desire to support and grow women's football;
they recruited both a senior team and an under-19 side from a group of 100 trialists.
The team was formed quickly enough to contest in the 2021 season of the
Campeonato Femenino B, the second tier of women's football in Uruguay. In their first season they won all seven of their First Phase games but performed less well in the Promotion Phase, missing out on the chance to ascend to the top division at the first attempt.
Girona
On 23 August 2017, it was announced that the City Football Group had acquired 44.3% of
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
side
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
. Another 44.3% was held by the Girona Football Group, led by Pere Guardiola, brother of Manchester City manager
Pep Guardiola.
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
had previously been loaned a number of players by
Manchester City while they were in the
Segunda División, in what was seen by some as an attempt to attract
Pep Guardiola to
Manchester City. In August 2018,
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
had two loanees, both 21 years old, from
Manchester City.
Girona B
In line with the Spanish standard of major teams operating B-teams as development squads for younger players, Girona owns a subsidiary team named simply ''Girona B'', following the incorporation in 2011 of the formerly independent side
CF Riudellots. At the time of the purchase of
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
by CFG, the club operated in the Segona Catalana division, the sixth level of football in Spain. As an official B-team Girona B is ineligible for promotion to a higher division than any other Girona-affiliated side above them in the leagues. Nor is it eligible to play in any cup competition in which
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
themselves already compete.
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
additionally operated a primary B-team –
CF Peralada-Girona B
Club de Futbol Peralada is a Spanish football team based in Peralada, in Province of Girona of the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1915, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5, holding home matches at ''Municipal de Peralad ...
– although this team was merely in partnership with
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
and neither
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
nor CFG had any ownership stake in the club. In 2019, the affiliation with Peralada was terminated as they were relegated to the
Tercera División
Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...
.
Girona FC Femení A
Though they had operated a women's side since 2017,
Girona Femení A only came into being in 2020, when Girona purchased the women's section of local club
Sant Pere Pescador, renaming them to match the club's identity.
Girona FC Femení B
Although Girona FC operated a senior women's team for a number of years, financial constraints had forced them to cease operations at the senior level in 2013
and by 2017 the
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
club operated just 3 junior teams with a total of 41 youth players in their system.
Barely two months before CFG bought into the ownership of Girona FC, the club announced an expansion of its female set-up, including the restoration of the senior women's team, to start competing in the fifth tier of women's football in Spain.
Sichuan Jiuniu
On 20 February 2019, it was announced that the City Football Group as well as
UBTECH and China Sports Capital had acquired
Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.
Mumbai City FC
City Football Group was announced as majority stakeholder of Mumbai City on Thursday 28 November 2019 after acquiring 65% of the club.
Mumbai City FC is a professional football club based in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, competing in the
Indian Super League
The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...
.
Mumbai City FC Reserves
Mumbai City FC Reserves were announced to be competing for the first time in the
I-League 2nd Division
I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind Indian ...
, the third tier of Indian football.
Lommel SK
City Football Group was announced as majority stakeholder of Lommel SK on Monday 11 May 2020 acquiring the majority (unspecified) of the shares of the club.
Lommel S.K.
Lommel SK is a Belgian association football club based in the city of Lommel, Limburg, that competes in the Challenger Pro League.
History
The roots of the club date back to the 1920s when the club Vlug & Vrij Overpelt-Usines (Fast & Free ...
is a professional football club based in
Lommel
Lommel () is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt.
Besides residential town of Lommel also ha ...
, competing in the
Belgian First Division B (second tier).
ES Troyes AC
On 3 September 2020, City Football Group announced that they had purchased the shares of the former owner of
Ligue 2 club
Troyes AC
Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a French association football club, based in Troyes, who play in Ligue 1, the highest level of France's football league system, and plays its home matches at the ...
Daniel Masoni, making them the majority shareholder of the
Ligue 2 French club.
The club won the championship and was promoted to
Ligue 1 at the end of the 2020-2021 season.
ES Troyes AC Reserves
The development side of Troyes AC, known variously as Troyes AC Reserves and Troyes AC 2, play in Group F (Grand Est) of the
Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of the
French football league system
The French football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in France and Monaco, and includes one Spanish side. At the top two levels of the system is the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which consists of two pr ...
.
ES Troyes ACC Féminine
ESTAC Troyes are represented in the women's game by Troyes AC Féminine, a senior side who compete in Grand Est Regional 1 (the third tier of women's football in France), having been denied promotion to
Division 2 Féminine
The Division 2 Féminine, shortened as D2 Féminine, is the second division of women's football in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas ...
by the early closing of the 2019–20 season due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
Palermo
In July 2022, CFG acquired a 80% majority stake of Italian
Serie B
The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...
club
Palermo.
Esporte Clube Bahia
On December 3,
City Football Group
City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a 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 ...
acquired 90% of
Esporte Clube Bahia. The deal is expected to be finalised by early 2023.
Honours achieved under CFG ownership
The following senior-level trophies have been won by City Football Group teams while under the ownership and control of the group. Trophies won before the inclusion in the City Football Group are not listed in this section:
List by club
Girona
*
Segunda División
** Play-off Winners (1):
2021–22
*
Supercopa de Catalunya
** Winners (1):
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
Girona B
*
Primera Catalana
The Primera Catalana is the 6th tier of the Spanish football league system and the highest league in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The league was formed in 1991 to replace Regional Preferent as the first level of Catalonia and was split i ...
** Winners (1):
2019–20
*
Segona Catalana
The Segona Catalana is the seventh tier of the Spanish football league system and the second highest league in the autonomous community of Catalonia. The league was formed in 2011 to replace Territorial Preferent as second level of Catalonia and ...
** Winners (1):
2017–18
Manchester City
*
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
** Winners (6):
2011–12,
2013–14,
2017–18,
2018–19,
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
,
2021–22
*
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
** Winners (2):
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
,
2018–19
*
EFL Cup
** Winners (6):
2013–14,
2015–16,
2017–18,
2018–19,
2019–20,
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
*
FA Community Shield
** Winners (3):
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
,
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
Manchester City Women
*
FA WSL 1:
** Winners (1):
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
*
FA Women's Cup
The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...
:
** Winners (3):
2016–17,
2018–19,
2019–20
*
FA WSL Continental Cup
The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in England, English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 t ...
:
** Winners (4):
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
,
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
,
2018–19,
2021–22
Melbourne City
*
A-League Club Championship
** Winners (1) : 2021-22
*
A-League
** A-League champions (1):
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
** A-League premiers (2):
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
,
2021–22
*
FFA Cup
The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austral ...
** Winners (1):
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
Melbourne City Women
*
A-League Women:
** W-League champions (4):
2015–16,
2016–17,
2017–18,
2019–20
** W-League premiers (2):
2015–16,
2019–20
Montevideo City Torque
*
Segunda División
** Winners (2):
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
,
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
Montevideo City Torque Femenino
*
Segunda Division
** Winners (1): 2022
*
Torneo Segunda Division Apertura
** Winners (1): 2022
*
Torneo Segunda Division Clausura
** Winners (1): 2022
Mumbai City
*
Indian Super League
The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...
** Champions (1):
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
** Premiers (1):
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
New York City
*
Campeones Cup
** Winners (1):
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...
*
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
** Winners (1):
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
Troyes
*
Ligue 2
** Winners (1):
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
Yokohama F. Marinos
*
J1 League
** Winners (2):
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
,
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...
Table of honours won
1 Includes lower league titles plus any cups not available to top division clubs, but does not include cups considered non-competitive for statistics purposes (such as pre-season competitions or local FA tournaments habitually contested by reserve sides).
2 Includes titles won while under control of City Football Group personnel, but before the creation of the company itself.
3 Girona were acquired by CFG in 2017 and have operated a women's team for the whole of their time in CFG. However, the Femení A team only came into existence in 2020 when local team
FC Sant Pere Pescador sold their women's team to Girona, allowing Girona to operate a women's team at a more professional level.
4 Although MCWFC have been affiliated to Manchester City since their creation in the 1980s, they only came under CFG control when the two clubs merged in 2014.
5 Although the EDS have operated as Manchester City's reserve team for considerably longer than CFG have owned the club, they only began competing in a senior competition in
2017–18 when they were given a place in the
EFL Trophy.
6 In the 2019–20 season,
ISL teams were invited to enter reserve teams into the
I-League 2nd Division
I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind Indian ...
, a second-tier competition. The season was cut short in March 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and in subsequent seasons reserve teams were not eligible to participate.
Intra-Group matches
Though City Football Group has existed for a number of years, competing schedules and priorities have limited the number of occasions on which CFG teams have been able to contest matches against each other. The following record lists the games played between CFG teams while both have been under common ownership:
CFG partner clubs
Club Bolivar
It was announced on 12 January 2021 that Club Bolivar had become the first partner club for the group. Club Bolivar is the most successful Bolivian club having won 29 domestic titles since it was founded in
La Paz on 12 April 1925. The owner of the club
Marcelo Claure
Raul Marcelo Claure Bedoya is a Bolivian technology entrepreneur, businessman, and investor. Until early 2022 he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of SoftBank Group International and chief operating officer (COO) of SoftBank Group Corporati ...
is also part of the ownership group of
Inter Miami CF
Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, known as Inter Miami CF or simply Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. Established in 2018, the club began play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the 2 ...
alongside
David Beckham as well as being COO of
SoftBank Group
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...
with
Masayoshi Son
Masayoshi Son ( ja, 孫 正義, translit=Son Masayoshi, ko, 손정의, translit=Son Jeong-ui) (born 11 August 1957) is a Korean-Japanese billionaire technology entrepreneur, investor, financier and philanthropist. A 3rd generation "Zainichi Kore ...
(CEO of Softbank) as well as Jorge Mas and Jose Mas from
MasTec
Mastec, Inc. is an American multinational infrastructure engineering and construction company based in Coral Gables, Florida. The company provides engineering, building, installation, maintenance and upgrade of energy, utility and communications ...
respectively.
Vannes OC
It was announced on 17 February 2021 that French
fourth tier side Vannes
Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago.
History Celtic Era
The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who live ...
had become the latest partner club for the group. The two club were already linked after Vannes' President Maxime Ray had joined CFG to become a minority shareholder in
Troyes AC
Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne (ESTAC), commonly known as Troyes, is a French association football club, based in Troyes, who play in Ligue 1, the highest level of France's football league system, and plays its home matches at the ...
as part of the 2020 purchase, though he agreed to have no operational role at Troyes as part of the takeover.
Businesses
Goals Soccer Centers
On 25 July 2017, City Football Group signed a joint venture partnership with
Goals Soccer Centres
Goals Soccer Centres (trading as Goals) is an operator of dedicated 5-a-side football centres based in Glasgow, with 45 locations in the UK and four in Los Angeles.
History
The origins of the industry go back to 1987 when Keith Rogers, co-found ...
, 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 – operating under the Americanised name ''Goals Soccer Centers'' – following the near-collapse of their partner as a result of historic fraud allegations.
See also
*
Manchester City F.C. ownership and finances
References
{{Yokohama F. Marinos
Holding companies established in 2014
Companies based in Manchester
2014 establishments in England
British companies established in 2014
Sports holding companies
Sports companies of the United Kingdom