City Football Group (CFG), the parent company behind English soccer heavyweights Manchester City and 12 other clubs, lost £122.2 million ($158.4 million) pre-tax in the 2023-24 season.
Since it was founded in 2013 – at that point, containing only Manchester City, and New York City in the US – CFG has lost £972.8 million in total.
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In each of the last three seasons, the multi-club ownership group has lost over £100 million.
The loss came despite record revenue of £933.1 million (of which £715 million came from Manchester City – by far the highest-profile club in the CFG stable). The next highest figure contributing to overall income was the £59.6 million brought in by LaLiga’s Girona.
Indeed, the Manchester club (English Premier League champions last season) recorded a 2023-24 pre-tax profit of £73.8 million – they have made a profit in all seasons (barring one Covid-affected campaign) since 2014-15.
In 2023-24, City won a fourth consecutive Premier League title, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the European Super Cup.
Overall CFG revenue was up £56 million from the 2022-23 figure, but this only translated to a 4.7% decrease in its overall losses, year-on-year – rising staff costs were a factor behind increased expenditure.
2023-24 CFG total staff costs came to £664.3 million.
CFG’s majority shareholder is the Newton Investment & Development vehicle which is controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Abu Dhabi vice president who is the ultimate owner of Manchester City through Abu Dhabi United Group.
The Silver Lake private equity investment group, meanwhile, owns 18% of the multi-club ownership group.
The list of CFG-owned or partially-owned soccer clubs is as follows: Manchester City, Lommel SK, Palermo, Troyes, Girona, New York City, Montevideo City Torque, Bahia (the club most recently taken over by CFG), Mumbai City, Shenzhen Peng City, Yokohama F.Marinos, and Melbourne City.
Manchester City are not certain to qualify for next season’s lucrative pan-European UEFA Champions League (UCL), which would represent a significant blow to their financials, and subsequently those of CFG.
The Manchester club have qualified for the UCL for 14 consecutive seasons, with UCL revenues becoming a factored-in part of their revenue stream.
Manchester City are also engaged in multiple legal disputes with the English Premier League, with all of these contributing to what will be considerable legal fees and expenses in CFG’s accounts.
A ruling on 130 charges laid against them over alleged breaches of Premier League financial regulations is potentially expected in the next couple of months.
