Abu Dhabi, UAE – Global football has witnessed a remarkable transformation in recent years, led by City Football Group, the sports and investment arm.
A subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Group, owned by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the UAE.
Since acquiring Manchester City in 2008, the group has changed the map of modern football.
It established a new concept of what is known as soft power in international relations through sports.
A global football project with an Emirati vision
City Football was launched with a strategic vision to combine sports investment with management innovation and cultural influence.
It established a network of interconnected clubs spanning five continents. This network currently includes:
Manchester City (England), New York City (USA),
Also Girona (Spain), Mumbai City (India), Melbourne City (Australia), Palermo (Italy),
Bahia (Brazil), along with clubs in China, Belgium, France and Uruguay.
With this geographical expansion, the group has become the largest integrated football system in modern history.
Share the same artistic, administrative and brand identity,
It enables the exchange of players and expertise, making it a model for sports management and sustainable financing.
From Manchester to the world
With Abu Dhabi’s acquisition of Manchester City, the club has become a major European powerhouse dominating domestic leagues.
It wins continental titles, thanks to modern management and advanced infrastructure.
Using technology in performance analysis and sports marketing.
The sky blue color has become a global symbol that reflects the UAE’s success in using sports as a tool for progress and leadership.
Soft diplomacy and sports economics
City Football has become a tool of Emirati soft power, combining sports, investment, and public diplomacy.
Western analysts view this activity as a successful model for exporting development, stability, and cultural openness from the Middle East to the world.
Through football, the UAE has succeeded in achieving an influential presence on the international scene.
Not only as an economic power, but as a country that uses culture and sports to build bridges of communication between peoples.
Manchester United and acquisition
As news of a possible sale of Manchester United increases,
Market experts believe that any move by City Football Club towards a deal, even partially, would change the balance of power in England.
Despite the legal restrictions imposed on the ownership of more than one club in the same league,
However, the group’s expansion capacity enables it to enter with innovative methods,
Whether through investment partnerships or marketing alliances, this is a concern for competitors.
Football as soft power
The acquisition of Brazilian club Bahia in 2022 represented a new step towards merging popular identity with global management.
Despite the controversy that has been raised in some circles about the compatibility of local values with the cultural and political background of the Emirates.
However, the group’s impact on the economic and technical levels remains clear,
It brought modern management concepts and professional infrastructure to clubs that had suffered for years from poor funding and mismanagement.
