A new deal struck by a close Man City ally proves that one influential figure was right about their trajectory way back in 2016.
City Football Group own 12 clubs in five different continents. And while Man City are the mothership, Girona have proven this season that they are a top team in their own right.
The Spanish side, who were acquired by City in 2017, finished 3rd in La Liga in what was comfortably the best season in the club’s history.
That means they will play in the Champions League in 2024-25 – with the massive caveat that they need to solve a dispute on dual ownership with UEFA first.
But regardless of how that case transpires, Girona have just secured their biggest ever commercial deal hot on the back of their on-pitch success.
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Ferran Sorriano was right about City’s growing commercial empire
Girona announced today that Etihad Airways would be their principle sponsor for the next three seasons.
Significantly, Etihad Airways have also been City’s main partner since they were acquired by Abu Dhabi United Group back in 2008.
The new deal, which benchmarking against other La Liga sides in Europe is likely to be worth £30m over the course of the full contract length, validates comments Ferran Sorriano made almost a decade ago.
As quoted by Esade in 2016, the City Football Group CEO said: “The challenge for a global football team is to turn its fans into customers.”
The idea, revolutionary at the time, was to create a network of “local teams grouped under a global brand.”
Girona’s Etihad Airways deal is the ultimate culmination of this strategy, with the firm also sponsoring the City Football Group’s other blue-chip asset in MLS franchise New York City.
What does the future hold for City Football Group?
City have long been the go-to example of how to build a multi-club network, with the approach now copied by dozens of huge investment companies worldwide.
The model is now the most common among Premier League clubs too. Almost half of the teams in the English top flight operate under a multi-club umbrella of some description.
But there is also immense hostility to the system among supporters and, increasingly, regulators.
UEFA are now taking a more hardline approach to multi-club investment, which could be a huge hurdle for City in years to come.
Meanwhile, fans have criticised multi-club ownership as the mothership, Man City in this case, is seen as inherently superior to its sister clubs in terms of the owners’ priorities.
That has led to complaints about clubs losing their unique identities, with owners liable to lose interest or jettison the asset entirely once they stop being economically or commercially viable.
City have diversified across multiple markets and have been enormously successful at leveraging their brand for commercial gain.
But at a time when resistance to multi-club ownership is growing, they must tread the path carefully in order to protect the integrity of the game, the interests of fans, and their own position as leaders in the field.