JAMSHEDPUR: Manchester City FC CEO Ferran Sorriano on Friday said the English football giants may invest in Indian football in the near future.
Sorriano made his comments Friday on the sidelines of an Indian Super League (ISL) tie between Jamshedpur FC and Mumbai City.
“Yeah, who knows, not immediately but India is a major opportunity for football,” the 50-year-old, who previously served as FC Barcelona vice-president, was quoted by IANS as having said.
“Because there is talent, there is passion and we are very positive about development of football in India.
“And this is why we are here, we want to watch football, we want to see players, we want to meet people,” Sorriano said during the half-time broadcast interview.
Manchester City is a wholly owned subsidiary of the City Football Group (CFG), a holding company that administers association football clubs under the ownership of Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG). It is part-owned by Chinese firms China Media Capital and CITIC Capital.
CFG also owns parts of clubs in the United States, Australia, Japan, Spain, and Uruguay. The company’s aim is to own a team on each continent, each with the identifier “City” in its name.
Besides its 100 per cent stake in Manchester City, CFG currently has stakeholding to varying degrees in five clubs – New York City (80%), Melbourne City (100%), Yokohama F Marinos – Japan (20%), Club Atletico Torque – Uruguay (100%) and Girona FC – Spain (44.3%).
