City Football Group (CFG), a company owned by English Premier League champions Manchester City, on Thursday bought a 65 per cent stake in the Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Mumbai City FC. The acquisition was announced on Thursday by CFG Chief Executive Ferran Soriano and Football Sports Development Ltd and Reliance Foundation chief Nita Ambani. Speaking on the occasion, Nita Ambani said, "This is a historic occasion. It is a celebration of the achievements that Indian football has achieved. I am confident that Mumbai City FC will benefit from this historic partnership for Indian football." Nita Ambani also owns an IPL Team Mumbai Indians, which has won 4 titles for the most time so far.
Mumbai City FC's home ground is the Mumbai Football Arena with a capacity of 8000. In the sixth season of the ISL, the team has played five matches so far. Soriano said Spanish manager Pep Godiola of Manchester City would be in touch with the manager of Mumbai City FC. With this, for the first time a European club has become a part of the Indian club.
Now Mumbai City FC will benefit from the group's professional and football knowledge. In addition, the club will have access to the CFG Global Commercial Platform. The City Football Group is known to be owned by Manchester City. Other football clubs near the group include New York City in the US, Melbourne City FC in Australia, Yokohama F Marino of Japan, Club Atlético Torque of Uruguay, Girona FC of Spain and Sichuan Jiuniu FC of China. The City Football Group, or CFG, now has 13 offices and eight football clubs worldwide. CFG was established in March 2013. Its eight clubs have over 1500 football players who play more than 2500 matches every year. In such a situation, some Indian young players will also get a chance to move forward.
