The owners of Manchester City FC – City Football Group (CFG) have acquired a majority stake in Mumbai City FC.
Apart from Manchester City, the City Football Group owns or has a stake in New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, Japanese side Yokohama F. Marinos, Uruguay’s Club Atlético Torque, La Liga team Girona and the China League Two side Sichuan Jiuniu. With the stake in Mumbai City FC, the total number of clubs under the City Football Group’s umbrella increases to eight.
There have been sustained reports in the media over the last few months about the impending takeover, but the announcement which was to be made at the beginning of the ISL 2019-20 was delayed considerably due to paperwork related to the acquisition.
Mumbai City FC are owned by Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh. Their current manager is former Portuguese international Jorge Costa who was retained after a semi-final finish last season in the ISL play-offs.
The CFG was floated out by the deputy prime minister of UAE, Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Sheikh Mansour) in 2014 and operates under the Abu Dhabi United Group. It is also partly owned by American private equity firm Silver Lake and Chinese firms China Media Capital & CITIC Capital.
UPDATE
-The City Football Group have acquired a 65% stake in Mumbai City FC.
-Damian Willoughby has been appointed CEO of CFG, India.
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