City Football Group: Manchester City’s parent company buys majority stake in India’s Mumbai City FC

Former Uruguay striker Diego Forlan (left) is one of the most high-profile players to appear for Mumbai City

Manchester City’s parent company, City Football Group (CFG), has agreed a deal to buy a majority stake in Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC.

CFG is buying 65% of Mumbai City, meaning the group will now hold a stake in eight football clubs.

Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor owns the remaining 35% of the club along with accountant Bimal Parekh.

On Wednesday, CFG also announced a £389m investment from US private equity firm Silver Lake.

That deal values CFG at £3.73bn.

The group already owns controlling stakes in Manchester City, Major League Soccer side New York City FC and Australian A-League team Melbourne City as well as minority shareholdings in clubs in China, Spain, Uruguay and Japan.

Mumbai, founded in 2014, have previously been managed by Manchester City greats Peter Reid and Nicolas Anelka, while former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan played for the club in 2016.

The club are seventh after five games in the Indian Super League, following a third-place finish last season.

“We believe that this investment will deliver transformative benefits to Mumbai City FC, to City Football Group and to Indian Football as a whole,” said chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

Analysis

Russell Osman, former England international and Indian Super League analyst for Star Sports

The Indian Super League is on the up, and the Indian national team is improving all the time under head coach Igor Stimac. It’s a massive market for football.

The Indian public will love it and the whole of Asia will love it. It’s like a big pat on the back for what has been done out here by the ISL.

This season Mumbai have won one, drawn one and lost a couple. It’s the sixth year of the ISL, and they have had some very good players here, like Florent Malouda and Diego Forlan.

We have had one or two Indian players moving abroad and trying their luck overseas, such as goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu who went to Norway (and played in the Europa League).

City were talking about the technical staff out here, they need to have a look around and they will unearth some very talented players.