How One Organization Controls World Football

They possess a football empire. With 13 teams located in 13 different nations and over 500 players managed by this organization, their reach is vast. This football dynasty involves countless millions of dollars. Picture your preferred team and their rival in the contest for the continental championship being owned by the same entity. This is precisely the scenario with the owners of Manchester City.
Manchester City represents more than a mere football club; they have essentially seized dominance over global football.

Taking Over The City

The football conglomerate known as City Football Group, which is under the ownership of the United Arab Emirates sheikhs, has a valuation exceeding 25 billion Riyals.
In 2008, Sheikh Mansour began his journey in the world of football by acquiring Manchester City with the main objective of dominating European football.
Having invested over €1 billion in player acquisitions and securing top-tier coaches, City has been rewarded with an impressive haul of 19 trophies. The investment in Manchester City reached such a level that the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, designed to regulate spending in football, could not curb the substantial buying capability of the English club.
As a result, the team found itself accused of over 100 infractions, with the looming possibility of being barred from European competitions for two years. Nevertheless, the team contested the sanctions. Additionally, the organization faces allegations of engaging in sportswashing, which means utilizing sports to overshadow, conceal, or shift focus away from the activities undertaken by the UAE governments. Essentially, this is what the team's investors aimed to obscure from global view. However, this did not prevent them from achieving dominance in global football. Following their significant success with the takeover of Manchester City, the consortium named Ferran Soriano, the ex-vice president of Barcelona, as the CEO of the club. What began as a strategy to conquer European football expanded into a goal to dominate football worldwide. The idea of turning Manchester City into an international brand greatly pleased the sheikhs, as proposed by Soriano.
The initiative entailed purchasing numerous clubs globally, spotting top young prospects, nurturing their skills, and eventually advancing them to the most prominent clubs within the network, including City.

The Soriano Effect

On September 1, 2012, Soriano assumed leadership at Manchester City. Within two days, he was in New York, laying the groundwork for a new soccer team. This involved investing $100 million for an MLS franchise. At that time, they were in the early stages of development. A decade following the establishment of New York City FC, the organization had cemented its supremacy in international soccer, overseeing operations across five continents and managing over 500 professional players worldwide.
The organization consistently focuses on acquiring minor and affordable clubs, especially in areas where they can re-engage supporters who have become disenchanted with their favorite teams.
With the exception of Bahia, two time Brazilian champion, and Bolivar, holder of 29 titles and Bolivia's greatest champion, the other clubs did not have an extensive history of achievements before being incorporated into the project. From the moment the group acquires a team, the league quickly becomes too small for the team under its control thanks to its enormous purchasing power. This gives the group a certain control over football in the country.
There are no expensive players or coaches for them, which explains the immediate results achieved. For example, Melbourne has won the Australian championship once and the Australian Premiership three times in the last three years. After joining the Citigroup, Yokohama ended a 15 year drought by winning the Japanese championship in 2019 and has repeated the feat since then. New York City won the MLS. Mumbai achieved the Indian Premier League double in its first year under group control, culminating in the league title last season with one of the most dominant displays in Indian league history. And finally, 15 years after acquiring the group, Manchester City won the Champions League. It is impressive to note that eight of the 13 current teams in the group won at least one major title last season.
Several teams within the organization incorporate the City brand into their name, preceding it. Beyond adopting logos and kits that resemble those of Manchester City, clubs with a long-standing heritage preserve their original identities. The objective of this group is to replicate Manchester City's achievements and Pep Guardiola's offensive playing approach throughout its global network of teams, thereby establishing a distinctive brand identity for City.

Delivering an attacking style of play, which is a pleasure to watch, is an identity we adopt at all of our clubs. The objective is to play in Manchester City's attacking style.

Not long ago, the consortium secured an 80% stake in the capital of the Italian squad Palermo, famed for unearthing talents like Edson Cavani, Javier Pastore, Paolo di Bala, and more. In addition, the organization broadened its reach into the South American market in 2021. By taking over Bolivar and then Bahia the following year, it significantly strengthened its position. This tactic highlights a clever strategy, granting the organization immediate access to one of the most potential-rich football markets. Given the number of teams owned by the same entity, it raises an interesting query: what happens when these teams compete against each other in a tournament?

The Internal Transfers Dilemma

Lately, there's been talk that Manchester City and Girona might not participate in the next Champions League because they have the same owner. Yet, in reality, this scenario is unlikely since UEFA permits clubs owned by the same entity to compete in the Champions League. The restriction is on player transfers between these clubs. It appears that sanctions are only imposed for the loaning of players among clubs under the same ownership.
An illustrative instance of this situation involves the athlete Yan Couto, a standout performer in La Liga for the season, who is ineligible to participate in the Champions League for Girona due to his loan status from Manchester City, with both clubs being part of the same ownership group. This tactic of nurturing young prospects at lesser-known clubs before moving them to more prominent teams within the same organization is currently being implemented.
This became evident recently with the case of the player Savinho. He was signed by Troyes, also belonging to the City group. He was later loaned to Girona and Manchester City recently signed him for next season. Thus, he played for two smaller clubs in the same group before arriving at the conglomerates main club, Manchester City.
From 2013 onwards, Manchester City has moved 19 players to Melbourne, sent 16 to Girona, and relocated four to New York. The strategy behind this is to bolster each team by supplying them with players from their own ranks.

The Magical Concept

Initially, when the expert in charge of this project introduced it to various clubs, he was deemed insane. Yet, now he is recognized as the brainpower driving the group's and Manchester City's triumphs, achievements that would have been unattainable without his contribution. Soriano, the city's genius, played a pivotal role in engineering the whole project. He proposed the concept to the directors of Barcelona, who deemed it absurd and dismissed it.

If I had presented this idea to Real Madrid, the response would have been you're crazy. And that's what actually happened in Barcelona, - Ferren Sariano

Over twelve years ago, when he served as the vice president of Barcelona, this concept originated. The strategy has been meticulously crafted, making it no accident that they've achieved their goal of establishing clubs in the world's three most populous nations: China, India, and the United States.
These markets boast robust economies and are home to the world's most sophisticated technologies. The plan involves leveraging the state-of-the-art technologies that are distinctive to these nations. This will facilitate the distribution of educational materials, game analytics, and injury rehabilitation techniques, thereby disseminating these advanced technologies across all teams within the group.
Having teams stationed across these nations will ease the accessibility to these technologies. The Red Bull Group, akin to how Citigroup functions, is a soccer franchise owning multiple clubs globally.
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