The City Football Group - A Special Report - The Athletic

12/14/2020 The City Football Group: a special report – The Athletic
Special report: City Football Group. Part one –

empire building
Sam Lee, Matt Slater and more Dec 9, 2020 122
Additional contributors: Sam Stejskal, Paul Tenorio and Ali Humayun
A bad bounce, an untimely slip, the wrong tactics, awful signings, injuries, the bloody referee:
these are the reasons most of us give when our side loses.
Ferran Soriano is not like most of us. He thinks such calamities are excuses, symptoms of
short-term thinking and proof you have not thought hard enough about it.
He spent six years putting his theories into practice at Barcelona, wrote a book about how he
might do it better next time and then got that chance when he met a different club in a hurry
to win and with pots of cash.
The result is City Football Group (CFG), an empire that stretches from Yokohama to New
York. Incorporated in 2013, five years after Sheikh Mansour’s money transformed the
mothership Manchester City, it now has a “menu of clubs” — 10 across five continents — and
chief executive Soriano is at the helm.
The Athletic has spoken to sources across the globe to help explain Soriano’s vision for CFG,
why the group has chosen certain clubs and leagues, and how its sides share information and
resources. In it we explain:
https://theathletic.com/2244423/2020/12/09/city-football-group-manchester/ 1/52
How City felt creating a global network was their best hope of catching Manchester
United
How some clubs are more used for brand purposes and others for developing talent
The Guardiola playbook available to staff at all the clubs
Reasons some people are not happy with City’s empire
In Part II (https://theathletic.co.uk/2244579/2020/12/10/cfg-manchester-new-york-city-
soriano/) we will look at how CFG identifies, develops, loans and sells players — highlighting
New York City FC in particular — and analyse the commercial aspect of a business whose
most valuable asset, Manchester City, is valued by US business magazine Forbes at $2.7
billion (£2 billion). We also ask what the future is for a business that aims to become football’s
version of the all-conquering All Blacks, New Zealand’s men’s rugby union team.
For some, CFG will always be an exercise in sportswashing, an elaborate ruse to circumvent
financial fair play or just a fun way to fritter away a fortune. But for a growing number of
industry experts, potential investors and even rivals, CFG’s multi-club model is the answer to
many of the game’s structural challenges, a sound investment in global demographics and the
best way to ensure you get fewer bad bounces, slips, ideas, signings, knocks and calls than the
other lot.
The vision: ‘Football as a sprawling entertainment business like Disney’
“There are essentially two fundamental components: Abu Dhabi and Ferran Soriano,”
explains Professor Simon Chadwick, director of Eurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School.
“Together, they bring a distinctiveness in approach that differentiates them from other multi-
club groups, such as Red Bull (the owners of clubs in Austria, Brazil, Germany and the
United States).”
Chadwick first met Soriano in 2005, when the latter was halfway through a spell on
Barcelona’s board that revived the club’s fortunes. They hit it off. A year later, the Barcelona
vice-president gave a presentation to Chadwick’s students at the University of London — the
professor has kept the slides. And they continued to talk when Chadwick moved to the
University of Salford and Soriano became chief executive at Manchester City in 2012.
“He was a tech millionaire by 30,” says Chadwick. “When he became a board member at
Barca, he had to lodge a bond of one million euros.
“Part of his education was at ESADE in Barcelona, one of the world’s best business schools.
It’s founded upon the principles of Saint Ignatius. He believed individuals should understand
the world and develop a more robust vision of it; that they should lead, think and act in new
ways.
“You see how this has shaped Soriano’s view of the world, from his early days making money,
reforming Barca and later envisioning football as a sprawling entertainment business like
Disney.”
After Sheikh Mansour had spent £210 million on buying Manchester City from former
Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and clearing the debts, the United Arab
Emirates’ deputy prime minister had run up almost £500 million in losses in four seasons.
That investment brought an FA Cup in 2011 and the Premier League title in 2012, but by
that point, the club had been without a permanent chief executive since Garry Cook’s
resignation nine months before. (https://theathletic.com/1477912/2019/12/26/garry-cook-
manchester-city-messi-ronaldo-rooney-ronaldinho-mancini-hughes-ferguson/) UEFA’s new
spending rules had come into force and Sheikh Mansour had seen enough to know his money
was leaking through too many cracks in the business model.
Having pipped Manchester United to the title on the last day of the 2011-12 season, City
looked at their crosstown rivals and tried to work out how they could match their pulling
power. City had attracted players every bit as good, if not better, than those at Old Trafford
but the club down the road cited more than 600 million global followers. How could City
bridge that gap? Trophies alone would not be enough.
According to Killing The Game, Daniel Slack-Smith’s 2018 book about City’s
transformation, it took club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and his board three months to
identify Soriano as their top candidate and another nine months to persuade him to join their
project. Or was it the other way around?
“Abu Dhabi was looking for vision at City while Soriano wanted a way back into football so
he could translate his view of football’s future into a new reality,” says Chadwick.
Manchester City chairman Al Mubarak (right) and chief executive Soriano in August 2012 (Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“Abu Dhabi is an absolute monarchy — it is not constrained by the demands of its people or
the vagaries of shareholder capitalism. Gulf economies are moving away from a dependency
on carbon fuel revenues by diversifying into other sectors. This transition is designed to take
decades, rather than a Premier League season or two.
“Abu Dhabi uses revenues derived from overseas investments to offset the need for a domestic
tax system. By not having taxes, the ruling family legitimises its position. Getting investments
such as CFG right are as much about remaining in power as they are about the emirate’s
economic future.”
Both sides knew what they were getting. The English champions’ ambition could not have
been more obvious, while Soriano had helped Barcelona become the dominant force City
aspired to be. And City’s board could always read Soriano’s book, Goal: The Ball Doesn’t Go
In By Chance, which Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi were kind enough to endorse and
included the author’s thoughts on the clubs that had become “global brands”.
In the book, Soriano explains that Europe’s elite must act like multinationals by developing
better ways to engage with customers at home and abroad. He tells the story of Barcelona’s
decision to launch a Japanese version of the club website and sell memberships to Japanese
fans. That summer, the club toured the country and in a game against Yokohama F Marinos,
the stadium was split evenly between fans of the home team and Barca’s local supporters. The
latter even sang in Catalan.
Andres Iniesta signs Barcelona shirts in Yokohama in December 2011 during the Club World Cup (Photo: Mike Hewitt/FIFA via Getty
Images)
The experience clearly made an impression because, in 2014, City Football Group bought a
20 per cent stake in Yokohama F Marinos, making the Japanese side the fourth member of
City Football Group.
The book goes on to outline three models for growing a club’s global brand:
“Distributing products” in overseas markets, namely broadcast rights and replica kits,
with a summer tour to back up these efforts.
Clubs build on this by opening academies “in foreign, faraway countries”, as Barcelona
did in Mexico.
“A natural progression”: actual franchises playing abroad to give elite clubs a permanent
presence.
Soriano also explains how he met Major League Soccer (MLS) commissioner Don Garber in
New York in 2005 to find out if the American league would be interested in a Barcelona-
branded team. First, they looked at Miami, then New York. He never closed that deal —
although MLS ended up managing Barcelona’s US marketing and game promotion — but
when he told City’s directors about it in the talks about the chief executive role, they loved it.
In fact, what Al Mubarak wanted to know was: why stop at New York?
Seven years on, with MLS looking to add two more franchises, Garber again got in contact
with Soriano — even before he had officially started at City, which had by then “risen to
become a football powerhouse” in the commissioner’s eyes.
Soriano was sent to New York to start negotiations on his second day in the job. Nine months
later, CFG became a reality when it paid MLS $100 million for the New York City franchise,
the league’s 20th in total. As a senior CFG source puts it, “the alchemy for CFG happened
during Ferran’s recruitment process”.
CFG was wholly owned by Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), Sheikh Mansour’s private
investment company, until 2015 when China Media Capital and Chinese state-backed
investment firm CITIC Group paid $400 million (£298 million) for a 13 per cent stake. In
November 2019, US-based private equity firm Silver Lake came on board too, paying $500
million (£373 million) for 10 per cent, (https://theathletic.co.uk/1414956/2019/11/27/man-
city-are-now-the-disney-of-football/) leaving ADUG with 77 per cent.
Pacific Media Group’s Paul Conway is the co-owner of a football multinational of his own —
the Championship’s Barnsley, Belgian first-division team KV Oostende and Swiss side FC
Thun — and CFG’s positions make perfect sense to him.
“There are four key rationales for the multi-club model,” Conway tells The Athletic. “The first
is commercial synergy and CFG does a good job of this. If you want to be a major sponsor for
Manchester City, you have to sponsor the team in Uruguay (Montevideo City Torque), too.
That bit of the deal might be only worth £50,000 but it adds up.
“The second is internal synergy, which is straightforward cost-saving. All these clubs do not
need their own chief executives, chief financial officers, chief operating officers.
“And that leads to the third benefit: uniformity of strategy. It’s easy in this industry to lose
money because of inconsistent or incompetent decision-making but you can mitigate that risk
with a clear management structure and a single approach to commercial deals, player contracts
and so on.”
The final benefit, Conway explains, is on the football performance side of the business:
everything from having the right place to develop the right talent, to keeping transfer fees
within the family.
There is, of course, another benefit to Sheikh Mansour’s massive investment in football: it has
got people talking about how he has brought Sergio Aguero, Pep Guardiola and co to the
Premier League, how he has poured money into East Manchester and even what a nice place
Abu Dhabi is to visit, but not the UAE’s treatment of its migrant workers, poor human rights
record or involvement in the brutal civil war in Yemen.
For organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, CFG is a giant
exercise in misdirection, a brightly-painted screen behind which the UAE can hide attitudes
and behaviour it knows will not play well abroad. And there are others who will simply scoff at
all CFG’s claims of long-term investment horizons and rising enterprise values and say, “hold
on, isn’t this all just a clever (but legal) way around FFP?” Or, as Liverpool owner John W
Henry memorably tweeted when he heard about the £400 million, 10-year, naming-rights-
and-shirt deal Etihad signed with Manchester City in 2011, “how much was the losing bid?”
Tweets are one thing, UEFA charges are another, and City’s owners have faced two sets of
those since 2014. But just when it looked like the club’s relationship with its Abu Dhabi
backers might derail the whole CFG project, City’s legal team won a famous victory over
UEFA’s at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the threat of sanctions, if not the debate
itself, was put to bed, probably forever.
Beyond The Headline

(https://theathletic.com/podcast/220-beyond-the-headline/)
Pep Talk: What next for C...

Clip - Episode 11
(https://theathletic.com/podcast/220-beyond-the-headline/?episode=11)
:00 2:14
‘We would rather have a B team or a feeder club but we can’t do that in this country, so we
have to look at other opportunities’
Soriano does not speak in public much these days, which is why his Q&A, via video link,
during October’s Leaders Week conference was so eagerly anticipated.
Noting that CFG had just bought Troyes of the French second division, the interviewer asked
Soriano, “I think that’s your ninth club, what’s the thinking there?”
City Football Group
“I have to correct you, we have 10, we acquired a club in Belgium,” replied Soriano, smiling.
“Football is what we do and we have this network of clubs that allows us to help each other
from a technical and football perspective, (as well as) develop good clubs that play good
football and become financially sustainable and add to our group.”
Brian Marwood, managing director of global football at CFG, puts it another way. “We have
clubs that we’re building to try to challenge at the top of their respective leagues, or to play in
the Asian Champions League or the CONCACAF or obviously the Champions League,” he
tells The Athletic. “There are other clubs that we feel can be a potential developmental
platform for our young talent.”
CFG’s interest in developing young talent is a prime example of how it has evolved since plans
for global domination were first drawn up in 2013. Marwood, City’s football administrator at
the time, and director of football services Simon Wilson were moved into an external office to
oversee “City Football Services”. It was at first, according to sources, primarily a commercial
venture, with growing sponsorship revenues and the City fanbase prized far above all else.
The idea was simple: more eyes on CFG equals more commercial and brand partnerships and
more affection for the club in Manchester. Player trading and development was essentially an
afterthought, certainly compared to the sheer amount of time and resource pumped into it
now.
At first, then, the huge emerging market of the US stood out (more on that later). Then came
Melbourne and an opportunity for CFG to invest in an Australian club for only £7 million.
There is a salary cap in the A-League but money has been pumped into infrastructure,
coaching, medical, scouting and academy costs. One CFG source estimates an average
category-one Premier League academy costs up to £3 million to run per year, which is
equivalent to the amounts being spent on Melbourne City, which can also bring in revenue
from crowds and television deals. The sale of Australia international Aaron Mooy, who moved
to Manchester from Melbourne in 2016 before being sold to Huddersfield Town for at least
£8 million, covered those costs for three years.
Last year, new ventures in the massive markets of China and India were announced, but CFG
has adapted its approach over the past five years and the ninth and 10th clubs to join were
those minnows in Belgium and France.
The change in thinking began within Manchester City’s academy. Part of the post-takeover
plan in 2008 was to ensure the club, which had produced a large number of players for the first
team in the 2000s, could still produce talent now that they had reached the next level, and
were competing in the Champions League.
More than two years of research went into developing the City Football Academy as
executives observed and borrowed ideas from the other sports around the world. They based
their hydrotherapy facilities and recovery centre on those they saw in the NBA and NFL and
visited Nike’s base in Oregon and the Australian Institute of Sport.
The idea was also to bring in some of the most talented 14-to-16-year-olds from around the
world, including Karim Rekik (from the Netherlands), Rony Lopes (Brazil) and the slightly
older Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria) (https://theathletic.com/1426455/2019/12/10/everyone-is-
so-happy-for-him-rodgers-clarity-and-non-stop-hard-work-have-seen-iheanacho-take-
chance-despite-nigeria-coachs-doubts/). They never made too big an impression on the first
team but they were sold for big sums: Rekik for £4.5 million, Lopes £9 million and Iheanacho
£25 million. Deals like those became regarded as proof of a business model and opened eyes to
the possibility of replicating it on a global scale.
Rekik facing Reading in the Premier League in December 2012 (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
As a consequence, CFG has shifted towards investing in clubs in more established footballing
markets. The cycle had evolved. More fans means more partnerships, meaning more revenues
that can be invested in better players who can be developed further to one day either play for
Manchester City or be sold for profit.
With NYCFC and Melbourne, it was felt the future values of MLS and the A-League would
soar, based on increasing broadcast deals. When Girona were brought into the group in 2017,
they had just been promoted to a La Liga that had moved to a Premier League-style TV
rights deal. This meant that instead of letting Barcelona and Real Madrid take the lion’s share,
broadcast income would be distributed more evenly between all of the clubs.
A source close to the Girona deal says those commercial opportunities were the primary
business justification for the investment, but the value of sending players to the Spanish top
flight had also become much more important. CFG had recognised that there was year-on-
year growth of 20 per cent in the transfer market and that even holding players for two years
would see a rise in their value.
Manchester City had already been loaning players to Girona for a couple of years — 16 have
moved from City to Girona since 2016. Pere Guardiola, Pep’s brother and an influential agent,
and Jaume Roures, a businessman who has close ties to Soriano, had bought 80 per cent of the
club in 2015. After the CFG investment, the two parties owned 44.3 per cent each, although
following recent investment, Pere’s share has shrunk to 16 per cent and CFG owns 48 per
cent.
Other clubs have been brought exclusively for their player development and trading
capabilities.
Soriano has talked openly about his desire for Premier League clubs to have B teams in the
EFL and the resistance to that has been another factor in CFG’s more recent determination to
bring in clubs to help them develop and/or sell players.
“One of my biggest frustrations is that in this country we still haven’t recognised a greater
ability to develop young players from the age of 18 to 22, and the loan system can be very hit
and miss, it can create more problems than it solves,” Marwood says.
“In an ideal world we would rather have a B team or a feeder club but we can’t do that in this
country, so we have to look at other opportunities. With Lommel (a club in Belgium’s second
division), we can give opportunities to young players and allow them to grow and develop
properly.
“We run the risk of losing that young talent. So we try to create platforms with some of our
clubs and give these young players an opportunity.”
The acquisition of Uruguayan side Club Atletico Torque at the start of 2017 was “100 per
cent” about investment in talent, according to one source. CFG is proud of the club’s
promotion to the top flight but there is an acceptance that returns on sponsorship, crowd
revenues or media rights will be small, at least at first. When City’s takeover was announced,
Soriano noted the example of Bruno Fornaroli, a player CFG picked up from Uruguayan side
Danubio for Melbourne and “became the best player in Australia”. Marwood cites the
example of Valentin Castellanos, who left Torque for New York.
City have long had a big scouting presence in South America, headed up by Joan Patsy, a close
friend of Manchester City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain, who had worked alongside
Cruyff at Barcelona. The goal with Torque, rebranded and renamed Montevideo City Torque
in January, is to help develop players across South America, although the focus is likely to be
on Uruguayans.
“They have what’s called ‘baby football’ there, so they are playing football very, very early, on
the kinds of pitches that would be akin to the ones we grew up on maybe 20 or 40 years ago,”
Marwood says. “It’s a great place to start in terms of character and personality, having that
kind of street fighting mentality, of hunger and desire. If you get the technical side right,
you’re going to get some interesting players.”
Those familiar with CFG’s plans say clubs such as Torque provide “registration platforms”: in
short, there is only so much space at Manchester City, so a network of clubs around the world
helps CFG retain much larger numbers.
That has played a large part in the acquisition of Lommel and Troyes. Neither would be able
to qualify for European competition as UEFA only allows one club under the same ownership
structure to play in its tournaments. Lommel may also struggle to pick up fans given its
relative proximity to Eindhoven and Genk, home to two successful and historical clubs.
But all of these clubs were obtained cheaply. Lommel were in disarray and would not have had
their league licence renewed when City stepped in, clearing debts of around £2 million as part
of the deal. Across the purchases of Troyes and Torque, CFG spent roughly £12 million.
Clubs in central Europe were also desirable because certain leagues and countries suit players
better than others. CFG, for example, is doing more business in Japan thanks in part to
Yokohama’s own scouts identifying top talents, and because they are generally very cheap.
History shows that Japanese players have tended to do well in the Netherlands and Germany,
and Belgium is seen as a similarly productive environment. Troyes or Girona, however, would
be better suited to any players coming through Torque, as would MLS. Troyes also have a B
team, providing further opportunities for player development.
The Australian market has also been popular because players generally cost no more than
£150,000. They would be sent to more physical, English-style leagues. Marwood says the goal
is to “create a menu of clubs” to give these players the best chance of success. There is another
benefit to owning a club in continental Europe, too.
Marwood speaks to England manager Gareth Southgate (Photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
“Owning teams in other leagues is a hedge against Brexit,”

(https://theathletic.com/2234253/2020/12/02/brexit-transfer-premier-league/) says Conway,
who is currently trying to buy AS Nancy, the French second-tier team CFG looked at this
summer before opting for Troyes. “There are 26 professional teams in Belgium and eight of
them have strategic investors, with most having an interest in an English team.
“Look how much talent is coming from Belgium and France. In the past, Manchester City
have spent €2 million on a development player but now they’ve just bought Lommel for the
same amount. I don’t know why more clubs haven’t worked this out.”
From January 1, players who would have moved freely to English clubs in the past will now be
subjected to the same points-based work permit system as non-EU players. English clubs will
also no longer be able to sign under-18 players from abroad.
How can Manchester City keep buying promising young players, such as Pedro Porro and
Pablo Moreno, if those players do not meet the criteria for a work permit? Easy: have a CFG
club sign them instead.
It could prove a slightly harder sell when the team on the contract is Lommel or Troyes rather
than Manchester City, although the pathway will be the same. Diego Rosa, the 18-year-old
Brazilian, has been linked heavily with a move to Lommel next year in a deal that could rise to
more then £20 million depending on appearances.
New FIFA regulations also seek to limit the number of players on loan from a club at the
same time to just eight, eventually falling to six. The pandemic has slowed those plans but the
CFG model means Manchester City are better placed than most to deal with them. For
example, last January, City signed Japanese player Ko Itakura and loaned him to Groningen.
This January, CFG will sign Koki Saito for Lommel.
Itakura playing for Groningen in October (Photo: Etienne Zegers/Soccrates/Getty Images)
As a bonus, players can get work permits in Belgium once they’re paid around £73,000
($97,000) a year, while those playing in the Belgian league often come with lofty reputations
and can be sold for big fees: for example, Jonathan David, a 20-year-old Canadian who signed
for Gent in 2018, moved to Lille for £27 million this summer.
According to one source with knowledge of the market, that fee set a new benchmark and will
soon be beaten again. As Marwood says, City intend to use Lommel for youth development
and they have installed Liam Manning, academy director at NYCFC, as coach of a very young
team.
It is estimated CFG has already spent around €12 million on talent and facilities at Lommel,
making them one of the rare Belgian clubs to have a net spend rather than a net profit. The
second-placed club in the top division, for example, spent €300,000 over the same period.
Such spending is unheard of for a second-tier side but far from exorbitant by CFG’s standards.
The Yokohama F Marinos deal came about during discussions with a CFG global sponsor,
the car manufacturer Nissan, which founded the Japanese club in 1972. CFG initially did not
have a say in sporting director or managerial hires but, over time, the benefit of its global reach
and resources has ensured a closer relationship. This benefits CFG through an increased
understanding of Japanese football, culture and the local transfer market, even though it only
has a 20 per cent stake in the club (Nissan still owns the other 80 per cent).
In China, progress is intended to be steady and CFG was slightly startled when its club,
Sichuan Jiuniu, were unexpectedly promoted from the third tier to the second after the
Chinese FA stripped 11 clubs of their licences for failing to pay players. Despite a £265
million investment from China Media Capital in 2015, CFG has found progress in the
market slow and is happy to limit its expenses, establish relationships with local partners and
bide its time before making its move towards the Super League.
“We’re learning the market,” says a CFG source. “We’re in a great city with a catchment area
of 80 million — that’s more than the UK — we’re the standout professional sports franchise in
the region and we’re ahead of schedule.”
The Chinese experience shows that not every club follows the same blueprint but an
incredible amount of work goes into ensuring CFG’s 10 clubs, including its women’s and
academy teams, are singing from the same hymn sheet.
‘Taking the car apart and putting it back together again’: The City Football Group manual
There is a manual by which NYCFC were built, Melbourne rebuilt and every other future
CFG club will have to abide. New clubs are audited, processes put in place and it is made
clear that certain standards must be met, from infrastructure and technology to playing style.
One of Marwood’s responsibilities is to make sure this happens. He calls this initial process a
health check that’s “very, very detailed” and involves “taking the car apart and putting it back
together again”.
It applies to people as well as processes, from the head coach to the kitman. One external
source with knowledge of how the group works says CFG is quick to “clear out deadwood”.
The framework was drawn up in 2013 and is based on the transformation that took place at
Manchester City in the years following the 2008 takeover. They aimed to learn from the good
and the bad, and apply it to clubs in different regions with different budgets.
There is a centralised database of information that means coaches in Mumbai can teach their
players Guardiola’s positional play, club doctors around the world can share research on
injuries and recovery methods, and a team of scouts can identify players for the Manchester
City first team, Chinese second division or the women’s teams in Manchester and Melbourne.
There are global leads of football performance, human performance and talent management,
and a daunting amount of modules that govern what best practice looks like. Each of those
modules is subjected to five subsections of scrutiny.
When assessing scouting and recruitment, for example, the five areas will assess whether the
right people are in place, whether the right processes are being followed, whether the
infrastructure (for example, travel) is adequate, whether the right technology is available, and
if there is room for innovation to achieve a competitive advantage.
Melbourne had never seen detail like it and had no objections, although more recently
established clubs have been a little more resistant to the changes. Ultimately, there is no other
option.
“We can share a lot of the sessions that Pep does (in Manchester) with the guys in Melbourne,
New York or Montevideo,” Marwood says. “But a lot of those sessions are very detailed, so the
coaches need to be coached. We set up a network that develops our coaches. They can go
online and get access to several tools, where they can educate themselves.
“All the sporting directors are fully aware of the style of play and what the requirement is. In
some respects, we put that above anything else. We’re very protective of that and we work very
hard to make sure all of the clubs implement that in the best way they possibly can.”
Marwood, who can watch every match of every club live from his home, will speak to CFG’s
different sporting directors at least once a week, and his team are in constant contact with
their colleagues on the ground. The manual that governs best practice is updated every few
months, and if a doctor in Melbourne is having success with a recovery technique that is not
used at other clubs, it can be incorporated into the central framework, across men’s and
women’s teams. The group’s shared medical expertise has been particularly helpful during the
pandemic, with staff at Lommel and City able to share information about changing protocols,
for example.
Coaches also tend to move between CFG clubs. Erick Mombaerts has been working with
CFG for eight years, having been recommended to Marwood by Arsene Wenger and Gerard
Houllier. He has coached both Yokohama and Melbourne, stabilising those clubs with a more
“no-nonsense” footballing style. Mombarts is set to take on a new role coaching youth coaches
at Troyes, and was replaced in Melbourne by former Australia international Patrick Kisnorbo,
who had stayed with the club since retiring in 2016. Nick Cushing, Manchester City Women’s
long-serving boss, (https://theathletic.com/2081783/2020/09/22/nick-cushing-manchester-
city-women-new-york-cfg/) became assistant manager in New York earlier this year.
Mombaerts speaks to his Melbourne City players during the 2020 A-League Grand Final (Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Aaron Hughes, the former Newcastle United and Aston Villa defender who signed for
Melbourne in 2015, reached out to Marwood after finishing his career in India. CFG is now
helping him complete a sporting director’s degree while he helps the group navigate the
landscape of Indian football following their purchase of Mumbai City last year.
At many of its clubs, CFG has made an instant impact. The doctor’s office at Melbourne used
to face the gents’ toilets, which had a door missing, meaning injured players were used to
getting a rather full view of their team-mates. And that was nothing compared to the snakes
in the dressing room. Torque didn’t even have a minibus and Marwood likens their facilities,
both academy and first team, to a “pub team on a Sunday morning”. “It was appalling,” he
says.
Not everybody speaks as glowingly about CFG methods, of course. There was also
controversy around Anthony Caceres, who was signed by Manchester City from Central
Coast Mariners and immediately loaned to Melbourne in 2016. There are no transfers
allowed in the A-League and some rival clubs were livid that the rules had been bent. The
Australian federation has moved to close the loophole, which is now known as the Caceres
Rule.
While Melbourne reached their first Grand Final last season, some believe they would be
better off focusing on big-name marquee signings, such as the spells of Alessandro Del Piero
and Emile Heskey at Sydney and Newcastle Jets respectively, to attract more fans. David Villa
had a very short-lived spell there before his time at New York but CFG prefers to focus on
development.
CFG has also ploughed money into Girona’s infrastructure but they remain lower mid-table in
a recently published ranking of the spending limits set by La Liga in Spain’s Segunda
Division. Their €4.25 million limit is dwarfed by Espanyol (Chinese owners) with €45
million, Almeria (Saudi) €27 million, Mallorca (US) €19 million and even Sabadell (a group
of international investors), newly promoted to the second tier, with €4.8 million.
The message is that Girona are “not Manchester City 2”, but none of the CFG clubs are —
they all serve a different purpose.
Part II (https://theathletic.co.uk/2244579/2020/12/10/cfg-manchester-new-york-city-
soriano/) of The Athletic’s special report into CFG asks: does this approach actually work?
(Top image: Alice Devine/Tifo for The Athletic)
What did you think of this story?
MEH SOLID AWESOME
122 COMMENTS
Add a comment...
Michael A. Dec 9, 12:24pm
I enjoyed this article! Thank you.
47
Jason R. Dec 9, 12:35pm
Been waiting for an in-depth article (or articles) on CFG! Can't wait for the second part!
I think what they're doing is really interesting, it's not just a commercial/marketing exercise but they
seemed to put a lot of thought on how it could help on the technical side with youth development,
coaching, and recruitment. The challenge going forward will probably be when Sorriano or Pep departs,
as it seems most of the foundation/philosophy came from them.
PS: I previously worked for a club that had a discussion with CFG with regards to a formal partnership.
47
Alexander S. Dec 9, 1:22pm
The problem is that the CFG scouting and development isn't very good. In MLS, nycfc is about aver-
age in those departments.
Jason R. Dec 9, 1:45pm
@Alexander S. Right, but with nine other clubs, that should increase the probability of finding tal-
ents. Further, said talent doesn't necessarily have to be a first-team material for Manchester City as
long as they can be shifted for decent $ to other clubs.
Matt Slater STAFF Dec 9, 5:35pm
@Alexander S. More on that tomorrow, Alexander!
John M. Dec 9, 12:46pm
Is this a replay of the Amazon doc where "it was Pep's greatest challenge" to manage City then, a billion
dollars investment later, somehow won the league against all odds.
50
JP D. Dec 9, 2:35pm
@John M. You forgot to mention the current squad value and the ROI for that investment? In other
words, buy Raheem Sterling for $50m and he is currently valued at $150m.
12
@John M. Ha! Well, I don't think it is, John, but I can understand if you feel that. We talk a lot more
about THE MONEY in part 2. But they did win their 1st title before they hired Soriano and went into
full 'take over the world' mode.
14
Jason C. Dec 10, 7:35am
@JP D. For every Sterling, there's a John Stones, an Otamendi, a Jesus Navas. While transfer failures
aren't uncommon to any club, that's a very strange defence to take up.
Tom T. Dec 10, 3:32pm
@Jason C The strange bit is who you chose to illustrate transfer failures. They might not be (or have
been) the greatest players at the club but Stones is approaching 100 games for City, Otamendi
played 130+ and was sold for half of what he was bought, and Jesus Navas cost £15m and played
120 games.
Subhash D. Dec 9, 12:48pm
Brilliant article. This is going to be a solid issue for Chelsea and our loan army scenes. And wow did not
know Ozzie football was that cheap
11
Kaustav C. Dec 9, 1:06pm
I feel I’m at the stage, where after work, I end up choosing either the athletic or Netflix, inclining on the
former all the time, so kudos for you guys for making solid content time and time again
30
Sam Lee STAFF Dec 9, 4:25pm
Excellent news! Thanks a lot, that’s great to hear
Rohan M. Dec 9, 1:24pm
Fantastic article! Isn’t redbull Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg under the same ownership? If so how is it
Fantastic article! Isn t redbull Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg under the same ownership? If so, how is it
that both the teams are playing in the UCL?
16
At the time of Salzburg getting into the CL (and presumably still now), Red Bull didn’t have a con-
trolling stake and were just sponsors. That’s what Uefa decided anyway. “Uefa ruled "no individual or
legal entity had a decisive influence over more than one club".” According to the BBC article at the
time
Robert K. Dec 9, 4:28pm
www.bbc.com/sport/football/40348340
@Rohan M. That's worth a story on its own, Rohan, and remains a sore point in some quarters. But
the short version is that the two clubs had to disentangle themselves and convince UEFA that they
were different clubs, with different boards and senior personnel, but they share a sponsor. I'll let you
make up your own mind on whether that is the case or not.
10
Alex O. Dec 9, 1:25pm
Dear City Financial, sorry I mean Football Group.
Please can you buy the arsenal and give us unlimited money and a giant network of feeder clubs as well?
Kind regards,
gooners
18
JP D. Dec 9, 2:28pm
@Alex O. Unfortunately I don't think your title sponsor Emirates will play ball, they are rivals with
City's owners you see!
Alex O. Dec 9, 6:22pm
@JP D. Indeed, we sold our soul and all we got was a daft stadium name!
Tom F. Dec 9, 1:27pm
Interesting! Look forward to part 2.
Jack F. Dec 9, 1:28pm
Brilliant stuff. What they're doing is very interesting and appears to be solid business principles applied
to the football world. Of course the whole issue is to what extent business principles should be there at
all and what that means for football clubs as community assets, rather than businesses/assets that can
be bought and sold. Although that ship has somewhat sailed, perhaps.
14
@Jack F. Yep. It's very hard not to acknowledge how clever CFG is (even allowing for how rich their
owners are) but there is something very cold and calculating about it. They're impressive but they're
not for me.
12
Tim E. Dec 9, 11:31pm
@Matt Slater As someone who is a sporting romantic, who watches it as a glorious diversion to the
vagaries of life, I to find the CFG cold and calculating. But when we were less of an international
business and just a football club in Moss Side, we were also shambolic and inept. The only long term
strategy we had was to keep the hinges on the managers door well oiled so that the secretaries
wouldn’t keep getting disturbed due to the almost weekly turnover of incompetents. All CFG are do-
ing are applying sound business principles in an industry renowned for short-termism. But there is a
part of me that thinks the soul is disappearing, not just from City but all top level football. I almost
long for the days we were crap. Almost!
10
Steven S. Dec 10, 10:42pm
@Tim E. Sorry Tim but from someone who supports a team with a great history and is sliding down-
hill fast and has been for a long time you would not like to be in that situation. Much better having to
live up to high expectations. Money doesn't guarantee success but not likely you will consistently
achieve without it. Clearly this group has a high level of organisation and professionalism. The envy
of most but indeed not all. Particularly their main rivals who don't like the heat.
Mark C. Dec 9, 1:28pm
Really good article but a thoroughly depressing (IMO) insight into the way football is going
41
A K. Dec 10, 2:13am
This is the correct take. All this is, is Abu Dhabi looking to sportswash their illegal and violent regime
moves across the Middle East and Central Asia, masterminded by former Barcelona Socio (soon-to-
be) criminals. There’s nothing clever about exploiting the governance structures (lack thereof) in far
off leagues in Uruguay and the Belgian Second Division.
Mark my words, in 25 years the football world will spit on the names of Guardiola, Serriano, Mubarak.
These people are the ilk of Blatter and Platini.
Anthony C. Dec 11, 1:13am
How so?
Anthony C. Dec 11, 1:16am
Does your third eye see corruption on the horizon?
Jade S. Dec 9, 1:30pm
‘Snakes in the dressing room at Melbourne’ that’s just made up and untrue
Not according to one interviewee
Anthea K. Dec 9, 10:51pm
@Jade S. if the quote is talking about their training facility then it's in an area that's surrounded by
significant bushland with all manner of native fauna. i live about 2kms away and can confirm that
snakes are part of the mix from my ride home.
if it's talking about the dressing rooms in the stadium in the city proper, then yeah, that would be
surprising.
Jack Y. Dec 10, 12:32pm
@Jade S. I didnt realise City had loaned Delph to Melbourne, must of missed that one...
Bill I. Dec 9, 1:37pm
Thanks—this is the sort of article that shows what the Athletic can do. It brings relevant expertise, open
minds and breadth of contacts to a complicated subject. I am not a City fan but its interesting to see
what they are trying to do. There were many excellent points made that I did not understand. Very much
appreciated.
19
Thank you Bill, I’m glad you appreciate it
William S. Dec 9, 1:43pm
Great article. Not sure I like what City are doing (must be dull being a Troyes fan), but fascinating
nonetheless!
Jasbir G. Dec 9, 1:58pm
I find this concerning, applying global business techniques to individual football clubs and turning a lo-
calised spectator-orientated organisations into branches of the global corporation. These sister/sub-
sidiary clubs are being used to circumnavigate the rules on the movement and transfer of players. What
is CFG's next step, opening an international school for referees who will then be parachuted into differ-
ent leagues to gain experience ?
10
Good idea, that
@Jasbir G. Well, one CFG source did tell us that they see themselves as a university of football, with
the various clubs being offshoot-campuses. And they CFG will help to "shape" the game's future, be
that in terms of rules, new formats, ways to engage with fans, technology...you name it. They're not
short of ambition!
Nick B. Dec 10, 2:00am
A university of football. *vomits*. This organisation is unreal.
Jim M. Dec 9, 1:58pm
Great article, can't wait for the rest of the series.
David W. Dec 9, 2:04pm
A once great club now responsible for poisoning football around the world. Forgive me if I fail to get
excited.
33
Douglas W. Dec 9, 2:06pm
Bag o' shite
@Douglas W. Is that a Paul Calf reference?
Douglas W. Dec 10, 1:50am
Indeed!
The reference was to ADUG and their sportswashing, not the article which is excellent. Looking for-
ward to the rest of the series 👏
3
Rutger S. Dec 9, 2:15pm
Great read, I´m looking forward to the next parts
Ian W. Dec 9, 2:34pm
Great PR article - I always like journalists keen to ask the difficult questions but the Athletic is exactly
the opposite of that I'm getting bored by the number of articles allowing a club to put their own point of
view without being challenged.
Pete F. Dec 9, 4:53pm
The sportswashing issue was given a tiny mention.
@Ian W. Sorry you think that, Ian, but I think City gave us the access they did (and you haven't read
part two yet) because we did ask them tough questions. The two pieces are products of lots of back
and forth with CFG. Questions about how real these investments are and whether they really are
achieving the various synergies they claim. Unsurprisingly, they believe there will be a very real re-
turn on investment with CFG and strongly reject the sportswashing argument. FWIW, we didn't go
big on that part of the Abu Dhabi/Man City story as we felt it had been told many times before (I've
done dozens of stories on it over the years) and we wanted to say something new about the busi-
ness and football rationale of CFG's multi-club model. The starting point for the piece is that almost
every new potential investor in European football is talking about multi-club models.
But, just to give you a bit more on sportswashing, here's a DVD extra, a bit that didn't make the final
cut as we just had too much to go in. It's a response from Manchester Metropolitan University's Dr
Paul Widdop, a senior lecturer on sports development, to the idea that Abu Dhabi is using CFG as a
smokescreen: "Although it makes for a good soundbite and popular terminology, I am not entirely
convinced with the notion of ‘sportswashing’ or what it actually represents. In one definition, sports-
washing is identified as being employed by authoritarian regimes that use mega-sports events to
reboot their reputations and distract audiences from their horrific human-rights records. In another
definition, sporting events are used to sideline critical views of a government launder its image. Yet,
there is currently no evidence which demonstrates this is actually the case. Rather, it should be
viewed in a wider deeper context, with sport being used increasingly as a strategy of a country's
diplomacy and international relations efforts to build social capital and allies throughout the world
diplomacy and international relations efforts, to build social capital and allies throughout the world.
Part of this does therefore involve cultivating a global image but sport only plays a supporting role
in this wider strategy. Indeed, in terms of economic trade between countries accused of sportswash-
ing, sport remains on the periphery."
22
Jason C. Dec 10, 7:39am
@Matt Slater Lovely stuff. Thanks for the added bit, always appreciate your frankness and knowl-
edge when writing about these things, or chatting on the Ornstein podcast.
I was about to skip the article as Sam Lee's name is on there, and he can be quite biased or tend to
skim over these things (such as putting a false dichotomy at the start of the article to make it seem
like you'd have to be an idiot to ONLY think that that CFG are sports washing and not recognise how
EXPERTS see it as the right answer to structural challenges). Understandably so to keep his con-
tacts with the club, but seeing your name put me at ease.
thanks for the article.
Jamie S. Dec 9, 2:40pm
The sheik is the ultimate beneficial owner of 3 companies, whom all pay vastly inflated transfer fees so
that Man City meet FFP spending limits for the last 10 years - which they still manage to fall foul of on a
few different occasions (that’s assuming the fees are fair value).
The elaborate network described above is simply to help spread costs, build up larger pool’s for player
trading and recoup bigger transfer fees - in essence to gain an unfair competitive advantage by spend-
ing more.
If you took away Etisalat, Etihad, all the murky third party image rights companies; the vastly inflated or
doped financial platform city have achieved their current success from, is completely illegitimate and
illegal based on rules they themselves signed up to.
The acid test? They can’t even fill their own stadium with their own fans.
Only a company running billions in debt each year - etihad - owned by a ‘mutual friend’ would spend
such eye watering sums sponsoring. Same applies to the other sponsors he is unsurprisingly an Ultimate
Beneficial Owner of
If FFP is to stop clubs gaining an unfair advantage from spending more than they generate - the loop-
hole around buying other clubs to cross sponsorships, fix transfer fees, spread costs throughout the
subsids should be closed.
For Liverpool to beat them to the title on such style with all this financial unfair and illegally gained com-
petitive advantage is admirable!
18
Saul G. Dec 9, 4:27pm
Everything you said is wrong. Sponsorship deals were legit as evidenced by CAS record. City also
average fifth highest attendance in Prem. CFG is built, as the article says, for different areas of influ-
ence. Whether that be profit, player discovery or a combo it’s up to them. Read more prudently next
time.
19
@Jamie S. That's certainly a theory, Jamie, but it's one that went to CAS and got beat 2-1. Sam and I
wrote a few thousand words on that story, too.
Dan C. Dec 10, 11:42am
CAS didn't find that they were legitimate. They found that Uefa had left it too long to punish them.
Very different.
@Jamie S. Hilarious. These type of comments from the likes of say scunthorpe fans have some cred-
ibility. But from a supporter of a club run by an American vulture capitalist intent on franchising the
business and creating an exclusive super league just hypes of hypocrisy. Sort your own shit out.
Paul C. Dec 10, 6:47pm
Could you give me a link to that if you don’t mind? I wouldn’t mind reading that, thanks!
Thomas H. Dec 12, 6:56pm
How much power does the CAS have?? Living in the US, I think the only way to over rule/ turn what
the commissioner passed down is through the legal court system. Is CAS an organization that can
go toe to toe with billion dollar organizations? Not sure if it was in the past article you mentioned but
isn't the CAS budget $20m and I'm pretty sure that a group like CFG would gladly spend 10 times
that amount on lawyers fighting the ruling (wasn't the CFG dude quoted as saying something simi-
lar?) Could an organization like CAS have the budget to get into a protracted legal fight with entities
CFG ?
Josh S. Dec 9, 3:06pm
Really fascinating read, fellas. Thank you for the in-depth reporting!
Matthew W. Dec 9, 3:07pm
Felt a bit nauseous reading this, even if there is some good journalism here. The idea that football being
run like an international business like this (not to mention the fact that it’s being run like this entirely as
a PR exercise for a literal country) is something to be admired, rather than something to be feared, root-
ed out and destroyed, is disgusting to me. If we care about the future of the sport we will do our best to
put an end to the way CFG conduct their business. Disappointing to see The Athletic engage in PR for
the UAE.
26
@Matthew W. I respectfully disagree with the notion that we're doing PR for anyone, Matthew. As
explained above, this is a piece about CFG and its multi-club model ie the most high-profile and am-
bitious example of the most talked-about business model in the game right now. All the other stuff?
Been said and done before.
12
Matthew W. Dec 10, 9:22am
@Matt Slater I also respectfully disagree with the idea that once a criticism is raised once that we
can then move on with our lives and pretend that the issue is resolved! Personally I would just rather
some more inquisitive and critical journalism than a (very good) description of what CFG are doing.
But that's just me!
Eliot O. Dec 10, 4:06pm
Very interesting to note your casual dismissal of these grievances, yet the Saudi takeover of New-
castle garnered far greater scrutiny, including from yourself
Jacob F. Dec 9, 3:32pm
I don’t think this makes any sense from a football perspective if you want to make a pathway and keep
transfer fees internally the model undertaken by red bull or even the Pozzo’s makes far more sense to
me.
This will definitely help city’s owners grow their wealth, manage financial risk and improve Abu Dhabi’s
image and grow City’s brand maybe to United like levels, but this resembles far more the Chelsea loan
army (stockpiling youth with no chance of getting to the first team while making money from their loan
fees) than anything which is seriously gonna help City on the pitch. Are city really gonna look to an NY-
CFC player when they need to get a replacement for Sterling or a Melbourne manager when they need
to replace pep?
Am also intrigued by how they think it will help grow city’s fans. If you’re already a city fan in Australia I
can’t imagine that will incentivise you to also support Melbourne, and vice versa if you were a fan of a
club in Uruguay from before they were bought by CFG are you suddenly gonna start also supporting city
cos you share owners?
Like you say it’s not really a transfer model, or it wasn’t initially, they set out to grow the fan base
and make money (with a very long-term view). So it wasn’t set up for players. Only over time did
they make that more of a priority but I suppose it’s a game of percentages really. Of every 10-15
signings maybe 1 or 2 will turn a profit? And maybe every 0.1 will become good enough to play for
City? That’s always going to be harder for a team like City too, as their level is higher (due to the
quality and earnings of the players in the squad as it is). It’d work better as a policy if City were low-
er down the table, but then something else wouldn’t be working!
As for growing the fan base, I think the logic is that new fans know Australia/US will be attracted to
the CFG clubs and therefore be led back to City
PETER B. Dec 9, 4:14pm
I enjoyed reading this a lot but I'm not sure one mention of sportswashing really does it justice? After all,
that's clearly the overarching aim of the whole program
14
Saint L. Dec 9, 5:32pm
of course clearly. how many years have you spent as part of the royal family in the UAE. inside info
like that will catch a good price to reporters
@PETER B. See my previous answers on sportswashing, Peter, and Dr Paul Widdop's thoughts on
the issue.
PETER B. Dec 9, 9:00pm
Thanks for your response, Matt
Jordan S. Dec 9, 4:25pm
Great insight. Goes to show that having a structured plan along with bottomless pockets will bring even-
tual success..... Who'd have thunk it.
4
Terence G. Dec 9, 4:36pm
Fantastic article!
Daniel P. Dec 9, 4:39pm
Enjoyed the article, but really enjoyed the location of New York City in the video 😂
Charlie H. Dec 9, 4:39pm
Interesting article, but can't help but find the whole thing just a horrible:
- Loopholes to sweep up all talent.

- Commodifying and removing the soul of clubs.
- Ensuring that the playing field is severely scewed.
But on the other side, I am delighted for Koki Saito who I tipped for bigger things in an article I wrote last
year (thesefootballtimes.co/2019/11/13/the-five-japanese-starlets-ushering-in-a-new-era-for-the-asian-
power/). On the individual side of things, I am not sure a young player would get such great opportunity
to fulfill their potential than within this system, or perhaps it will just cause the loss of interesting player
narratives...
*Genuine apologies for the self promotion, but Koki does not often come up*
Aaron M. Dec 9, 4:57pm
How did they miss out on Gio Reyna? Wasn't he with NYCFC?
Matthew M. Dec 9, 5:04pm
Great stuff folks keep it up can’t wait to read part 2

Chien L. Dec 9, 5:28pm
Great article and waiting for part two.
Jinal T. Dec 9, 5:34pm
This is a brilliant article and you can see why the network of clubs is an appealing proposition for senior
officials at clubs, it is a way of controlling the development of young players from start to finish with no
real lapses. I do wonder about the viability of this approach in the long-term, I'm not sure whether
leagues will like a club like City or Leipzig having a serious competitive advantage.
Saint L. Dec 9, 5:41pm
i like how some read the article and still came to the conclusion this is all sportwashing or this is the end
of football as we know it. surely you lot weren’t saying this when barcelona were trying to build their
global image. i digress, saw some comments about circumventing the rules to have access to talent. The
rules put in place by brexit? that now give all english clubs a worse chance at getting talent? sheesh sor-
ry CFG found a way to get the talent your club can’t. Chelsea use their loan army but god forbid any oth-
er club try to find a new way to get talent. And to those “disappointed” this is the path football is taking,
as clubs like liverpool and united become even more global super powers the more football is going to
become a business and less a community asset
Gary D. M. Dec 9, 5:43pm
Really interesting article.
James O. Dec 9, 5:51pm
Really good article. City’s owners operate like they are in it for the long haul. Many other owners don’t.
The wealth obviously helps but the long term vision for the club/clubs is just as important.
The wealth obviously helps but the long term vision for the club/clubs is just as important.
Look forward to part 2.
Tyler A. Dec 9, 7:05pm
Absolutely fascinating look into what is really a global juggernaut.
Saul M. Dec 9, 7:20pm
This was brilliant work. As someone who wants to get into football, mostly on the sporting director side,
this was so insightful.
Laurent C. Dec 9, 7:41pm
I love this and I think it is the way sports are going. I think most of us grew up with Sports being mom-
and-pop owners. A few right car dealers bought a football team and pushed them along. They were more
Sullivan and Gold than CFG. What we are seeing is the incorporation of sport entertainment into the
wider business culture. Here with Soriano and Kaldoon you have MBA business school principles being
added to sport. The only thing that makes this a touch different is what it WAS. Sport means something
different historically to people and you have this human element of what happens on the pitch that can't
really be controlled for.
What sport is going through is the age old battle between art and commerce. Art (the football) is an ide-
al, is supposed to be pure and without the ideals of money. Commerce is about extracting value from the
art. We see this battle in film, fine art and television all the time. And the balancing act that happens is
fascinating. We are seeing this in football now. What we have labeled "Modern" football, is essentially ac-
knowledging the success of football. How wonderful and amazing it is. It simple got too big and too
amazing for business to ignore. What working class people had known for decades, that football brings
meaning, solidarity and moments of pure joy (and sorrow) is now available for everyone.
CFG are trying to business systematize football, like it is an oil company - the wins are widgets, the play-
ers are labor, and the COGS are infrastructure. Anyone who has an MBA will see what CFG are doing.
The big question is: will this hurt football? Will it damage it irreparably? We don't know. I do know that
the most valuable team sport in the world is the US NFL. If that is the model they are going toward.... run
for the hills!
@Laurent C. Hopefully the Athletic might do a crossover of the individuals involved in the US NFL
and also in English football. You might be surprised that they in fact are American and involved in
very high profile English teams. They involve themselves in franchising and some are ruthlessly pre-
pared to relocate teams in other cities if it serves their business profits. Possibly something to look
forward to ? They don't play American Football in Abu Dhabi !
Peter M. Dec 9, 7:53pm
Great work. Does CFG have in their manuals how to handle sex pest star players like David Villa and NY-
CFC? If so I’m guessing the teams either isn’t following it or it’s a poor plan.
Augusto C. Dec 9, 8:30pm
It is a very interesting and well written study of the group. I think that many if the things that are being
portrayed here are a future vision of how the group should work instead of how it actually works. Some
other synergies or aspects currently are very well integrated. Such as centralized administration, trans-
fer of staff amongst clubs.
On the academy or youth development side which is where I am closer due to my son playing for one,
there is no integration of the platform and they are still very far from doing it. This integration does not
mean that kids have to rotate going to the mothership but even between different clubs, as mere devel-
opment experiences. FC Barcelona and Red Bulls have these platforms truly integrated and with excel-
lent synergy.
In all, I believe they are at the beginning of the curve in term.of realizing their true potential as a group.
Mark K. Dec 9, 8:39pm
Essentially they're cheats. Going all out to destroy the essence of football by using their unlimited re-
sources to gain undue advantages wherever they can. Just because you have the means to do some-
thing doesn't mean that you should. A sense of morality however that is utterly lost in the twisted world
view of these undeserving rich.
Therefore everything they build, do and win is of no value whatever, overshadowed by a dark cloud of
rule bending and often -breaking. Add to that the understandable accusations of
Man City sportswashing an unsavoury regime's dirty laundry and you get the City Football Group - a
stain on the face of World Football. And actually not worthy of in-depth analysis on a podium like this.
12
12
A K. Dec 10, 2:49am
Whole heartedly agree, with one caveat: we may think that it’s not worthy of in-depth analysis how-
ever shedding light on this is how the wheels of justice first begins. Der Spiegel did the same and
almost caused the whole thing to unravel right before our eyes. As I said below, the football world in
the future will spit on the names of Guardiola, Soriano, Mubarak. These people are a stain on foot-
ball, ever scrubbed deeper by the claws of unfettered global capitalism.
@ A K. If you think Manchester City are the sole recipients of unfettered global capitalism you really
haven't been paying attention for the last 20 years. The list of clubs involved is a very long one.
Fazil O. Dec 9, 8:59pm
Fascinating read !
Great job Sam
Lee R. Dec 9, 10:00pm
Interested to know the tax implications. I assume all taxes are paid in the country of each club and not
avoided by being registered to the mass murderers ?
Iain F. Dec 9, 11:28pm
Fantastic article. Another reason why The Athletic is worth the money.
Michael W. Dec 9, 11:40pm

This is just fantastic...thank you!
Colin S. Dec 9, 11:44pm
The problem is (and you mention it in the article) that senior management positions are "shared" across
the group. City make up the vast majority of CFG; 85% of revenue and probably 95% of brand recogni-
tion. It's crucial to CFG that City are the main focus of their attention yet Omar Berrada, who was City
COO was moved to be Global COO of Football Operations. His replacement was Roel De Vries, who is
Global COO. So there is no one directly and explicitly running Manchester City, which is very shortsight-
ed.
Another bit of myopic thinking is City increasing ticket prices by 2-3% every year, despite the fact that
City don't have the following that United & Liverpool have (at least not yet). There's little chance of
building that loyal following that City were known for having when it costs nearly £200 for a family of 2
adults and 2 children to watch a Category A match. If Soriano was as far-sighted as you make him out to
be, he'd have a strategy to do that, given that City's current following is one of the oldest in the PL.
He's the CEO yet he's barely spoken directly to City fans in the years he's been there. He's no visionary;
CFG is about his ego, nothing more.
David Y. Dec 10, 12:40am
There is word here in Egypt that Pyramids FC are on the verge of joining CFG - They've just been re-
branded with a logo that's strikingly similar to that of Man City, NYCFC, Melbourne City and so on.
And also the small matter of being the 'Man City' of Africa in terms of transfer budgets - there was a
summer in which they spent over $25m which over here is like a top European club spending $500m in
one window given how Egyptian/African players are cheap in general.
Nick B. Dec 10, 1:53am
Man City and their CFG have to be the most nauseating entities in football. All this article does is glorify
what they do.
11
Hrushikesh G. Dec 10, 2:28am
Football aside..and club rivalries aside..CFG seems have hit on a solid working model- football is no
longer the domain of local businessmen, sports is the next big bet for 'smart money'!
It's a wonderful read and look forward to reading more in the follow-up articles.
A K. Dec 10, 2:29am
I posted this below, apologies for the repetition but it is needed to be said again:
All this is, is Abu Dhabi looking to sportswash their illegal and violent regime moves across the Middle
East and Central Asia, masterminded by former Barcelona execs (soon-to-be) criminals. There’s nothing
clever about exploiting the governance structures (or lack thereof) in far off leagues in Uruguay and the
Belgian Second Division.
Mark my words, in 25 years the football world will spit on the names of Guardiola, Soriano, Mubarak.
These people are the heirs and ilk of Blatter and Platini.
This is a well written article, the reason we all pay for sports writing coverage. As Der Spiegel did previ-
ously, I hope that this can be influential enough to shed more light onto this criminal enterprise and dis-
gusting empire forged by an unholy alliance of ex Barcelona execs and the ruling family of the UAE.
Excellent stuff all round!!
James O. Dec 10, 8:30am
Can you elaborate on ‘I hope this can be influential enough to shed more light onto this criminal en-
terprise’. What crimes are being committed?
Also, ‘masterminded by former Barcelona execs (soon-to-be) criminals’. Interested to know what this
refers to?
David G. Dec 10, 4:45am
This is good stuff for lateral thinking in managing, or owning, other non-football businesses. I'm surprised
there aren't more hedge funds involved in this structure.
Nuno S. Dec 10, 5:08am
Great article! This article plus the (Sheffield) United Group one give great insight into this growing trend.
It would be interesting to also see a deeper dive into the Red Bull group or even ENIC to compare their
different approaches.
Matthew T. Dec 10, 7:04am
This is so great! An enthralling account of a fascinating aspect of contemporary business and organisa-
tional strategy in football.
Jason H. Dec 10, 7:55am
Stuff like this should be prevented for the good of the game. Red Bull, Man City sportswash group, the
Watford ownership etc. All clubs should be independent. It only benefits the rich
Jonathan P. Dec 10, 9:21am
Bloody hell I hope they’re not really sharing intel on recovery from injury - we’re shite at it!!!
Pranay K. Dec 10, 10:11am
This is why I have subscribed to the athletic. Insightful read!
Robert B. Dec 10, 11:21am
It's not football anymore

Neil C. Dec 10, 11:34am
putting the multiple ethics and moral dilemnas their involvement in teh game poses, teh scale of ambi-
tion is bretahtaking. It puts many top clubs to shame
Joseph B. Dec 10, 1:01pm
I cringe every time I see a mention of B Teams, it would make the purpose of the EFL redundant if the big
teams could have B Teams devaluing the competition in the lower leagues
Paul Dec 10, 1:06pm
Can Sam or others please explain sportswashing to me? The idea is that people will be distracted by
these things and the human rights record in Abu Dhabi will be ignored. But that's total nonsense. The
human rights record in Abu Dhabi has never been more publicised, more discussed or more investigated
in large part due to the connection to City.
How do you explain this very large hypocrisy?
Iain M. Dec 10, 1:48pm
Really good read! The business (and football) case certainly makes a lot of sense, but can’t help but feel
the whole thing becomes a bit of a ‘hive mind’. But then maybe that’s the whole point...
Alex K. Dec 10, 3:05pm
A really great read, I was set here thinking wow this is all really clever, and then remembered its Man City
and anything I felt is now negated. Can't wait for part 2
Villi G. Dec 10, 5:05pm
Amzaing article
Pete W. Dec 10, 7:27pm
Done. This article puts the lid on the bottle and can close it. Change the meaning of 'C' from CLUB to
CONGLOMERATE. How does this sound, Manchester City Football Conglomerate.
Parker B. Dec 10, 7:33pm
Fascinating!
Sam M. Dec 10, 7:59pm
'Eagerly' awaiting the point in which every smaller league is a duopoly between a CFG club and a Red
Bull club.
"Red Bull Guatemala takes on Guatemala City FC in the Cup Final here today!"
Oleg M. Dec 10, 8:48pm
Fantastic article, I didn't even know that their empire is so big!
Clint H. Dec 11, 12:15pm
It's a great article, and wow, it is as I expected. Elite attitude from top to bottom, nothing missed and at-
tention to detail with no expense spared. But lets be honest, it's a FPP get-around and sportswashing
exercise at the highest possible level Not against it as it will bring more teams up a notch but lets not
exercise at the highest possible level. Not against it as it will bring more teams up a notch but lets not
kid ourselves.
Stevie H. Dec 11, 4:34pm
This is incredible. Thank you for this content.
Liam G. Dec 11, 6:59pm
If ADUG wanted ROI they should have bought Man United - after all the losses to catch up they are still
far behind from a business perspective. Will they ever get the global reach of United? Maybe, but far
from certain - they could have bought and expanded it.
Even under the debt-laden, terribly run Glazer regime United are still far more profitable.
If United managed to get competitive on the pitch again they'd just pull further away.
CFG seems like a brilliant expansion idea but based on a terrible core club.
(Liverpool another club that would have been a brilliant 'seed' club - see how their finances have taken
off due to recent success combined with established global heritage/reach - they'll be the biggest club in
the world this year, and taking out Pandemic effects they'll be close to the most profitable.
Thomas H. Dec 12, 6:42pm
Great article and a very interesting read in part 1! It seems like On a business view, what CFG is doing is
great for their bottom line and expanding revenue but it is like you own a 2 star restaurant and then start
selling cheeseburgers on every street corner as a sideline. Great for revenue but how does that help you
get that 3rd star?
Also how much of barcas success over the past 15 years is actually attributed to having a bunch of once
in a generation players come up through the academy rather than those who were on the board at the
time? With all the execs CFG has hired from barca from their greatest era shouldn't they have done an all
😂
conquering treble (Carabao cup does not take the place of the CL )? It feels like so many execs used
there time in barca on their CV like they had a huge hand in getting that club into their golden era and if
you pay me the money I'll do the same for you!
Keep up the great writing!

Frank R. Dec 13, 12:47am
Great read, thanks all involved!
Keith J. Dec 13, 8:40am
Very good article good read
Kane B. 6h ago
God I absolutely hate this
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12/14/2020 The City Football Group: a special report – The Athletic

Special report: City Football Group. Part one –

Additional contributors: Sam Stejskal, Paul Tenorio and Ali Humayun

The vision: ‘Football as a sprawling entertainment business like Disney’

Beyond The Headline

Pep Talk: What next for C...

City Football Group

“Owning teams in other leagues is a hedge against Brexit,”

Itakura playing for Groningen in October (Photo: Etienne Zegers/Soccrates/Getty Images)

(Top image: Alice Devine/Tifo for The Athletic)

What did you think of this story?

MEH SOLID AWESOME

Michael A. Dec 9, 12:24pm

I enjoyed this article! Thank you.

Jason R. Dec 9, 12:35pm

Alexander S. Dec 9, 1:22pm

Jason R. Dec 9, 1:45pm

Matt Slater STAFF Dec 9, 5:35pm

@Alexander S. More on that tomorrow, Alexander!

John M. Dec 9, 12:46pm

Matt Slater STAFF Dec 9, 5:37pm

Jason C. Dec 10, 7:35am

Tom T. Dec 10, 3:32pm

Subhash D. Dec 9, 12:48pm

Kaustav C. Dec 9, 1:06pm

Sam Lee STAFF Dec 9, 4:25pm

Excellent news! Thanks a lot, that’s great to hear

Rohan M. Dec 9, 1:24pm

Sam Lee STAFF Dec 9, 4:27pm

Robert K. Dec 9, 4:28pm

Matt Slater STAFF Dec 9, 5:41pm

Alex O. Dec 9, 1:25pm

Dear City Financial, sorry I mean Football Group.

Alex O. Dec 9, 6:22pm

Tom F. Dec 9, 1:27pm

Interesting! Look forward to part 2.

Jack F. Dec 9, 1:28pm

Matt Slater STAFF Dec 9, 5:43pm

Tim E. Dec 9, 11:31pm

Steven S. Dec 10, 10:42pm

Mark C. Dec 9, 1:28pm

A K. Dec 10, 2:13am

Anthony C. Dec 11, 1:13am

Anthony C. Dec 11, 1:16am

Does your third eye see corruption on the horizon?

Jade S. Dec 9, 1:30pm

Sam Lee STAFF Dec 9, 4:31pm

Not according to one interviewee

Anthea K. Dec 9, 10:51pm

Jack Y. Dec 10, 12:32pm

Bill I. Dec 9, 1:37pm

Sam Lee STAFF Dec 9, 4:31pm

Thank you Bill, I’m glad you appreciate it

William S. Dec 9, 1:43pm

Jasbir G. Dec 9, 1:58pm

Sam Lee STAFF Dec 9, 4:32pm

Good idea, that

Matt Slater STAFF Dec 9, 6:31pm

Nick B. Dec 10, 2:00am

A university of football. *vomits*. This organisation is unreal.

Jim M. Dec 9, 1:58pm

Great article, can't wait for the rest of the series.

David W. Dec 9, 2:04pm

A university of football. vomits. This organisation is unreal.