Manchester City owners, City Football Group, have purchased a stake in Chinese club Sichuan Jiuniu FC which becomes the seventh outfit to join their portfolio.
CFG, whose flagship club are the English champions, aim to have a team on each continent with Africa currently missing from their objective.
The sun never sets on City Football Group. Four things to know…
- Founded: 2014
- Founder(s): Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Khaldoon Al Mubarak
- Clubs: Manchester City (England), New York FC (United States), Melbourne City FC (Australia), Yokohama F. Marinos (Japan), Club Atletico Torque (Uruguay), Girona FC (Spain) and Sichuan Jiuniu FC (China)
- Honours: three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, three League Cups, one FFA Cup
Since being formed in 2014, six years after Abu Dhabi United Group bought Manchester City for a reported £210m, the holding company has been spreading its wings to purchase football clubs in order to create an extensive network.
So far CFG has a presence in five continents: Europe (Manchester City and Girona), Asia (Yokohama F. Marinos and Sichuan Jiuniu), North America (New York City FC), South America (Club Atlético Torque) and Oceania (Melbourne City FC).
Sichuan Jiuniu, their latest acquisition, is the only member not playing top division football with them based in China’s third division (below China League One and Chinese Super League).
However, it’s no concern for City Football Group chief executive, Ferran Soriano, who is backing their investment.
Subscribe to Squawka’s Youtube channel: sqwk.at/Squawka-Sub
“We believe strongly in the future of football in China,” he told reporters.
“We are making a long-term, sustainable commitment to grow and develop Sichuan Jiuniu FC and to nurture Chinese footballing talent.”
Is the quadruple on?
There’s been no better time to be associated with City than right now. Pep Guardiola’s men are currently fighting on four fronts with the aim of becoming the first English club to achieve the quadruple.
Following their Champions League round-of-16, first leg 3-2 win away to struggling Bundesliga outfit Schalke 04, there’s the small matter of a League Cup final against Chelsea, who they recently put six past without reply in the Premier League.
City presently lead England’s top division, due to a superior goal-difference, albeit, rivals Liverpool have a game in hand, and face Swansea City in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Guardiola, who normally stays grounded, is nonetheless relishing the chance of making history.
“It’s important in February to be here, in four competitions,” he recently told reporters. “Now we go to the biggest stage, Champions League, and we will see (what happens) in May and June.”
The post Man City owners buy stake in Chinese club to expand global portfolio appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka News https://ift.tt/2VbRNto
No comments:
Post a Comment