Owner of the City Football Group which owns Man City, Sheikh Mansour is one of the Middle East's most powerful business men, as well as UAE deputy prime minister.
Manchester City’s rapid rise to the elite of European football began when Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour took over the club in 2008.
In the 13 years under Sheikh Mansour, City have won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups and six EFL Cups. But even after the £2.5bn ($3.5bn) of Abu Dhabi money that has reportedly been invested in the club since Mansour’s takeover, the coveted Champions League has continued to elude the blue half of Manchester.
But that could change on Saturday should City manage to surpass Chelsea in their first-ever European Cup/Champions League final, which would cap off an impressive double-winning campaign after Pep Guardiola’s side claimed the Premier League title earlier this month.
Taking into account City’s domestic successes under Mansour, such an achievement would undoubtedly secure the Abu Dhabi sheikh’s place on the the list of European football’s most successful owners of all time.
Sheikh Mansour’s business and political career, net worth
While his chairmanship of City may be his most publicly visible role, it is far from his most important by his own accounts in his official biography. The 50-year-old Emirati royal is also chief executive of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company, which oversees the emirate’s $243bn sovereign wealth fund; a board member of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company; and chairman of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Emirates Global Aluminium.
Mansour has also had a successful political career and currently serves as deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, as well as minister of presidential affairs.
With an estimated net worth of $22 billion, Mansour oversees a lucrative business portfolio as head of Aabar Investments, which includes a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic and a 9.1% stake in Daimler. He also owns the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC) which established Sky News Arabia under a partnership with British Sky Broadcasting.
His sporting interests include his ownership of City Football Group, which comprises of Manchester City, Melbourne City FC, New York City FC, Mumbai City FC, among others; chairmanship of the Al Jazira sports company, which owns UAE Pro League ouftit, Al Jazira Club; and chairmanship of the Emirates horse racing authority. A strong supporter of Arabian horse racing, he is himself a successful horse rider who has won several endurance racing tournaments in the Middle East.
Mansour personal life
Mansour has been married twice. He married his ex-wife Sheikha Alia bint Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed in the mid-1990s, with whom he has one son, Zayed. In 2005, Mansour married Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktou, daughter of Dubai ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The couple has two daughters and three sons: Fatima (2006), Mohammed (2007), Hamdan (2011), Latifa (2014) and Rashid (2017).