CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
PSG - Manchester City: who are the club owners?
The dominant clubs in Ligue 1 and the Premier League over recent years meet in the 2021 Champions League semi-finals. But what do you know about their ownership?
Two multi-billionaire football club owners will watch (probably) as their teams play out the two-legged semi-final for a place in the 2021 Champions League final. Paris Saint-Germain’s Nassel Al-Khalaifi and Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour have invested in their clubs, both on and off the pitch - an overall transfer spend that would make your eyes water - and both are hoping that this is the year that their dreams are finally realised.
Neither club has ever been champions of Europe, although PSG came very close last season, and recent talk of a European Super League highlighted the financial threat to football that has developed as the mega-rich utilise their new play thing. So, who are the owners of these two clubs, and how much are they worth anyway?
PSG-Man City related news:
PSG owner: Nassel Al-Khalaifi
Becoming PSG’s president and CEO in late 2011, shortly after taking on the role of chairman to Qatar Sports Investments, Al-Khalaifi has spent (in both senses of the word) the last decade building the club’s place in European football’s elite. The 47-year old is also the chairman of the BeIN Media Group and sits on UEFA’s executive committee.
According to recent estimates, his net worth is an estimated $8 billion, not to mention having the backing of Qatar’s ruling Al-Thani family.
Man City owner: Sheikh Mansour
Just as the PSG chief chairs QSi, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan holds the same position at Al Jazeera sports company. But that is not all.
As owner of the City Football Group, founded in 2014, six years after he bought the football club, Mansour is also in charge of IPIC (which owns a massive 71% of Aabar Investments) and has had a 32% slice of Virgin Atlantic since 2009 when his investment company spent $280 million on the project. Oh, and he's a senior Abu Dhabi royal and member of the Emirati government.
Estimates have his net worth dwarfing that of his latest sporting opposite number, bringing him in at $21 billion.