Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is a professional football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894. The club's home ground is the Etihad Stadium in east Manchester, to which they moved in 2003, having played at Maine Road since 1923. Manchester City adopted their sky blue home shirts in 1894, the first season with the current name. Over the course of its history, the club has won ten league titles, seven FA Cups, eight League Cups, seven FA Community Shields, one UEFA Champions League, one European Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup.
The club joined the Football League in 1892, and won their first major honour, the FA Cup, in 1904. Manchester City had its first major period of success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, winning the league title, FA Cup, League Cup, and European Cup Winners Cup under the management of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. After losing the 1981 FA Cup final, Manchester City went through a period of decline, culminating in relegation to the third tier of English football for the only time in their history in 1998. They since regained promotion to the top tier in 2001–02 and have remained a fixture in the Premier League since 2002–03.
Manchester City received considerable financial investment both in playing staff and facilities following its takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group in August 2008. This started a new era of unprecedented success, with the club winning the FA Cup in 2011 and the Premier League in 2012, both their first since the 1960s, followed by another league title in 2014. Under the management of Pep Guardiola, Manchester City won the Premier League in 2018, becoming the only team in the competition history to attain 100 points in a single season. In 2018–19, they won four trophies, completing an unprecedented sweep of all domestic titles in England and becoming the first English men's team to win the domestic treble. This was followed by four consecutive Premier League titles in 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23 and 2023–24, as well as the club's first Champions League final in 2021, which they lost to Chelsea. The 2022–23 season saw Manchester City win the Champions League and complete the continental treble in the process, becoming the second English club to do so. The club was ranked first in the UEFA coefficient standings in 2023.
Manchester City topped the Deloitte Football Money League at the end of the 2021–22 season, making it the football club with the highest revenue in the world, approximated at €731 million. In 2022, Forbes estimated the club was the sixth-most valuable in the world, worth $4.250 billion. Manchester City are owned by City Football Group Limited, a holding company valued at £3.73 ($4.8) billion in November 2019 and majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group.
City gained their first honours by winning the Second Division in 1899; with it came promotion to the highest level in English football, the First Division. They went on to claim their first major honour on 23 April 1904, beating Bolton Wanderers 1–0 at Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup; the Blues narrowly missed out on a League and Cup double that season after finishing runners-up in the league campaign, but they still became the first club in Manchester to win a major honour. In the seasons following the FA Cup triumph, the club was dogged by allegations of financial irregularities, culminating in the suspension of seventeen players in 1906, including captain Billy Meredith, who subsequently moved across town to Manchester United. A fire at Hyde Road destroyed the main stand in 1920, and in 1923 the club moved to their new purpose-built stadium at Maine Road in Moss Side.
In the 1930s, Manchester City reached two consecutive FA Cup finals, losing to Everton in 1933, before claiming the Cup by beating Portsmouth in 1934. During the 1934 run, the club broke the record for the highest home attendance of any club in English football history, as 84,569 fans packed Maine Road for a sixth-round FA Cup tie against Stoke City – a record which stood until 2016. The club won the First Division title for the first time in 1937, but were relegated the following season, despite scoring more goals than any other team in the division. Twenty years later, a City team inspired by a tactical system known as the Revie Plan reached consecutive FA Cup finals again, in 1955 and 1956; just as in the 1930s, they lost the first one, to Newcastle United, and won the second. The 1956 final, in which the Blues defeated Birmingham City 3–1, saw City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann continuing to play on after unknowingly breaking his neck.
After being relegated to the Second Division in 1963, the future looked bleak with a record low home attendance of 8,015 against Swindon Town in January 1965. In the summer of 1965, the management team of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison was appointed. In the first season under Mercer, Manchester City won the Second Division title and made important signings in Mike Summerbee and Colin Bell. Two seasons later, in 1967–68, City claimed the league championship for the second time, beating their close neighbours Manchester United to the title on the final day of the season with a 4–3 victory at Newcastle United. Further trophies followed: City won the FA Cup in 1969 and a year later triumphed in the European Cup Winners' Cup, defeating Górnik Zabrze 2–1 in the 1970 final. This was the club's only European honour until their triumph in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League. The Blues also won the League Cup that year, becoming the second English team to win a European trophy and a domestic trophy in the same season.
The club continued to challenge for honours throughout the 1970s, finishing one point behind the league champions on two occasions and reaching the final of the 1974 League Cup. One of the matches from this period that is most fondly remembered by supporters of Manchester City is the final match of the 1973–74 season against arch-rivals Manchester United, who needed to win to have any hope of avoiding relegation. Former United player Denis Law scored with a backheel to give City a 1–0 win at Old Trafford and confirm the relegation of their rivals. The final trophy of the club's most successful period of the 20th century was won in 1976, when Newcastle United were beaten 2–1 in the League Cup final.
A long period of decline followed the success of the 1960s and 1970s. Malcolm Allison rejoined the club to become manager for the second time in 1979, but squandered large sums of money on several unsuccessful signings, such as Steve Daley. A succession of managers then followed – seven in the 1980s alone. Under John Bond, City reached the 1981 FA Cup final but lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur. The club were twice relegated from the top flight in the 1980s (in 1983 and 1987), but returned to the top flight again in 1989 under Mel Machin. Howard Kendall guided the club to top flight safety in 1990 and the club finished fifth in 1991 and 1992 under the management of active player Peter Reid. However, this was only a temporary respite, and following Reid's departure Manchester City's fortunes continued to fade. City were co-founders of the Premier League upon its creation in 1992, but after finishing ninth in its first season, Peter Swales, club chairman since 1973, was replaced by club legend Francis Lee in February 1994 in a movement supported by fans. Despite this, they endured three years of struggle under Brian Horton and Alan Ball Jr. before being relegated in dramatic fashion in 1996. After two seasons in the First Division and four different permanent managers, Lee resigned from his role as chairman midway through the 1998 season, although remained as a shareholder, as City fell to the lowest point in their history, becoming the second ever European trophy winners to be relegated to their country's third-tier league after 1. FC Magdeburg of Germany.
After relegation, the club underwent off-the-field upheaval, with new chairman David Bernstein introducing greater fiscal discipline. Under manager Joe Royle, City were promoted at the first attempt, achieved in dramatic fashion in the Second Division play-off final against Gillingham. A second successive promotion saw City return to the top division, but this proved to have been a step too far for the recovering club, and in 2001 City were relegated once more. Kevin Keegan replaced Royle as manager in the close season, and achieved an immediate return to the top division as the club won the 2001–02 First Division championship, breaking club records for the number of points gained and goals scored in a single season in the process. The 2002–03 season was the last at Maine Road and included a 3–1 derby victory over rivals Manchester United, ending a 13-year run without a derby win. Additionally, City qualified for European competition for the first time in 25 years via UEFA fair play ranking. In the close 2003–04 season, the club moved to the new City of Manchester Stadium. The first four seasons at the stadium all resulted in mid-table finishes. Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson became the club's first foreign manager when appointed in 2007. After a bright start, performances faded in the second half of the season, and Eriksson was sacked on 2 June 2008; he was replaced by Mark Hughes two days later.
By 2008, Manchester City were in a financially precarious position. Thaksin Shinawatra had taken control of the club the year before, but his political travails saw his assets frozen. Then, in August 2008, City were purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group. The takeover was immediately followed by a flurry of bids for high-profile players; the club broke the British transfer record by signing Brazilian international Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 million (€42.5 million). There was not a huge improvement in performance compared to the previous season despite the influx of money however, with the team finishing tenth, although they did well to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. During the summer of 2009, the club took transfer spending to an unprecedented level, with an outlay of over £100 million on players Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Touré, Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez, and Joleon Lescott. In December 2009, Mark Hughes – who had been hired shortly before the change in ownership but was originally retained by the new board – was replaced as manager by Roberto Mancini. City finished the season in fifth position in the Premier League, narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League but qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.
Continued investment in players followed in successive seasons, and results began to match the upturn in player quality. After heavy speculation, Roberto Mancini confirmed that a move of Edin Džeko from Wolfsburg for a fee of £27 million (€32 million) had been agreed on 3 January 2011. This was City's second highest transfer figure, after Robinho's move from Real Madrid for £32.5 million in 2008. The transfer fee was the sixth highest in the Premier League history at the time, and, the record departure transfer fee in the Bundesliga. City reached the FA Cup final in 2011, their first major final in over 30 years, after defeating derby rivals Manchester United in the semi-finals, the first time they had knocked their rival out of a cup competition since 1975. The Blues defeated Stoke City 1–0 in the final, securing their fifth FA Cup and the club's first major trophy since winning the 1976 League Cup. On the last day of the 2010–11 season, City beat out Arsenal for the third place, thereby securing qualification directly into the Champions League group stage.
Strong performances continued to follow in the 2011–12 season, including a 5–1 victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane and a record-equalling 6–1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford, but a poor run of form in the second half of the season left City in second place, eight points behind United with only six games left to play. At this point, United suffered their own loss of form, dropping eight points in the space of four games, while City began a run of successive wins which saw both teams level on points with two games to go. Despite the Blues only needing a home win against Queens Park Rangers, a team in the relegation zone, they fell 1–2 behind by the end of normal time. However, two goals in injury time – the second by Sergio Agüero in the fourth added minute – settled the title in City's favour, making them the first team to win the Premier League on goal difference alone.
The following season, City were unable to replicate the previous year's success. After finishing second in the league, eleven points behind Manchester United, and losing the FA Cup final 0–1 to relegated Wigan Athletic, Mancini was sacked. He was replaced by Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini. In Pellegrini's first year in charge, City won the League Cup and regained the Premier League title on the last matchday of the season. The team's league form then slowly declined over the next couple of years, as the Blues finished second in 2014–15 and then dropped to fourth in 2015–16, although the 2015–16 season would see City win another League Cup title and reach the Champions League semi-finals for the first time.
Pep Guardiola, former head coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, was confirmed to become Manchester City's new manager on 1 February 2016, with the announcement having been made several months before Manuel Pellegrini left his position. Guardiola's first season in Manchester would end trophyless, with the Blues placing third in the league standings, but the following season proved far more successful, as City won the Premier League title with the highest points total in history and broke numerous other club and English league records along the way.
This would prove to be the start of a period of unprecedented success for Manchester City under Guardiola. Between the 2017–18 and 2023–24 Premier League seasons, City won six out of possible seven league titles, only finishing second behind Liverpool in the 2019–20 season. Guardiola also guided the Blues to silverware in domestic cup competitions, highlighted by four consecutive League Cup triumphs in 2018–2021. During the 2018–19 season, City completed an unprecedented domestic treble of English men's titles. Apart from winning all three of the major English football tournaments, they also won the Community Shield, the first time any team has ever held all four of England's primary football trophies at the same time. On the continental stage, the club achieved breakthrough in 2020–21, reaching their first-ever Champions League final. In an all-English affair, City lost 0–1 to Chelsea at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto.
The 2022–23 season turned out to be the greatest in the club's history, as Manchester City won their third consecutive Premier League title, the FA Cup final against rivals Manchester United, and their maiden Champions League title at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul against Inter Milan, thereby assembling a rare feat – the continental treble. The road to the Champions League victory included wins over European giants Bayern Munich, who were defeated 4–1 on aggregate, and Real Madrid, who suffered a 1–5 aggregate loss at the hands of City. The following season saw considerably less success for the Blues, as they won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup for the first time and became the first English men's club to win four consecutive league titles. City also advanced to the FA Cup final for the second straight year but lost in a rematch to rivals Manchester United.
Manchester City's era of sustained competitive excellence coincided with charges of breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. In 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that sanctions placed on the club by UEFA were not justified, overturning City's two-year European ban. In 2023, the Premier League announced its own investigation of the allegations levied against Manchester City, charging the club with 115 breaches of its FFP rules up to the 2017–18 season.
Manchester City's home colours are sky blue and white. Traditional away kit colours have been either maroon or (from the 1960s) red and black; however, in recent years several colours have been used. The origins of the club's home colours are unclear, but there is evidence that the club has worn blue since 1892 or earlier. A booklet entitled Famous Football Clubs – Manchester City published in the 1940s indicates that West Gorton (St. Marks) originally played in scarlet and black, and reports dating from 1884 describe the team wearing black jerseys bearing a white cross, showing the club's origins as a church side. The infrequent yet recurrent use of red and black away colours comes from former assistant manager Malcolm Allison's belief that adopting the colours of AC Milan would inspire City to glory. Allison's theory seemingly took effect, with City winning the 1969 FA Cup final, 1970 League Cup final, and 1970 Cup Winners' Cup final in red and black stripes as opposed to the club's home kit of sky blue.
City had previously worn three other badges on their shirts, prior to their current badge being implemented in 2016. The first, introduced in 1970, was based on designs which had been used on official club documentation since the mid-1960s. It consisted of a circular badge which used the same shield as the present badge (including a ship, based on the City of Manchester coat of arms), inside a circle bearing the name of the club. In 1972, this was replaced by a variation which replaced the lower half of the shield with the red rose of Lancashire. In 1976, a heraldic badge was granted by the College of Arms to the English Football League for use by City. The badge consisted of the familiar ship above a red rose but on a circular device instead of a shield (blazoned as "A roundel per fess azure and argent in chief a three masted ship sails set pennons flying or in base a rose gules barbed and seeded proper").
On occasions when Manchester City played in a major cup final, the club wore shirts bearing the City of Manchester coat of arms, as a symbol of pride in representing the city at a major event. This practice originated from a time when the players' shirts did not normally bear a badge of any kind. The club has since abandoned the practice; for the 2011 FA Cup final, its first in the 21st century, City used the usual badge with a special legend, but the Manchester coat of arms was included as a small monochrome logo in the numbers on the back of players' shirts.
A new club badge was adopted in 1997, as a result of the previous badge being ineligible for registration as a trademark. This badge was based on the arms of the city of Manchester, and consisted of a shield in front of a golden eagle. The eagle is an old heraldic symbol of the city of Manchester; a golden eagle was added to the city's badge in 1958 (but had since been removed), representing the growing aviation industry. The shield featured a ship on its upper half representing the Manchester Ship Canal, and three diagonal stripes in the lower half symbolised the city's three rivers – the Irwell, the Irk and the Medlock. The bottom of the badge bore the motto "Superbia in Proelio", which translates as "Pride in Battle" in Latin. Above the eagle and shield were the three stars, added for decorative purposes.
On 15 October 2015, following years of criticism from the fans over the design of the 1997 badge, the club announced they intended to carry out a fan consultation on whether to discontinue the current badge and institute a new design. After the consultation, the club announced in late November 2015 the badge would be replaced in due course by a new version which would be designed in the style of the older, circular variants. A design purporting to be the new badge was unintentionally leaked two days early prior to the official unveiling on 26 December 2015 by the IPO when the design was trademarked on 22 December. The new badge was officially unveiled at Manchester City's home match against Sunderland on 26 December.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The following players have previously made appearances or have appeared on the substitutes bench for the first team.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Since 2003, Manchester City have not issued the squad number 23. It was retired in memory of Marc-Vivien Foé, who was on loan to the club from Lyon at the time of his death on the field of play while playing for Cameroon in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
This is a list of City's official club captains, who are currently appointed via a vote of players and staff. Other players (vice-captains) have led the team on the pitch when the club captain is not playing or not available. Some players have been made captain on a one-off basis to celebrate or commemorate an event, e.g. Oleksandr Zinchenko captained the team in their 2021–22 FA Cup fifth round tie at Peterborough United in support of his country during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Each season since the end of the 1966–67 season, the members of the Manchester City Official Supporters Club have voted by ballot to choose the player on the team they feel is the most worthy of recognition for his performances during that season. The following table lists the recipients of this award since 2000.
Sources:
The following former Manchester City players and managers have been inducted into the Manchester City F.C. Hall of Fame, and are listed according to the year of their induction:
The following former Manchester City players and managers have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame (a.k.a. the National Football Museum Hall of Fame), and are listed according to the year of their induction within the various categories:
The following former Manchester City players have been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. Inaugurated in 2020, but delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hall of Fame is intended to recognise and honour players that have achieved great success and made a significant contribution to the league since its founding in 1992.
The following former Manchester City players and managers have been inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame (a.k.a. the Scottish Football Museum Hall of Fame), and are listed according to the year of their induction within the various categories:
The following former Manchester City players have been inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame, and are listed according to the year of their induction:
Source:
Since moving to the City of Manchester Stadium, the club's average attendances have been in the top six in England, usually in excess of 40,000. Even in the late 1990s, when City were relegated twice in three seasons and playing in the third tier of English football (then the Second Division, now the EFL League One), home attendances were in the region of 30,000, compared to an average of fewer than 8,000 for the division. Research carried out by Manchester City in 2005 estimated a fanbase of 886,000 in the United Kingdom and a total in excess of 2 million worldwide, although since the purchase of the club by Sheikh Mansour, and City's recent achievements, that figure has since ballooned to many times that size.
Manchester City's officially recognised supporters club is the Manchester City F.C. Supporters Club (1949), formed by a merger of two existing organisations in 2010: the Official Supporters Club (OSC) and the Centenary Supporters Association (CSA). City fans' song of choice is a rendition of "Blue Moon", which despite its melancholic theme is belted out with gusto as though it were a heroic anthem. City supporters tend to believe that unpredictability is an inherent trait of their team, and label unexpected results "typical City". Events that fans regard as "typical City" include the club being the only reigning English champions ever to be relegated (in 1938), the only team to score and concede over 100 goals in the same season (1957–58), or the more recent example where Manchester City were the only team to beat Chelsea in the latter's record-breaking 2004–05 Premier League season, yet in the same season City were knocked out of the FA Cup by Oldham Athletic, a team two divisions lower.
In the late 1980s, City fans started a craze of bringing inflatable objects to matches, primarily oversized bananas. One disputed explanation for the phenomenon is that in a match against West Bromwich Albion, chants from fans calling for the introduction of Imre Varadi as a substitute mutated into "Imre Banana". Terraces packed with inflatable-waving supporters became a frequent sight in the 1988–89 season, as the craze spread to other clubs (inflatable fish were seen at Grimsby Town), with the craze reaching its peak at City's match at Stoke City on 26 December 1988, a game declared by fanzines as a fancy dress party. In 2010, Manchester City supporters adopted an exuberant dance, dubbed The Poznań, from fans of Polish club Lech Poznań that they played in the Europa League. In 2022, Manchester City proposed the release of the Connected Scarf, that would contain a sensor tracking physiological and emotional data of the wearer, for supporters in 2023.
Manchester City's biggest rivalry is with neighbours Manchester United, against whom they contest the Manchester derby. Before the Second World War, when travel to away games was rare, many Mancunian football fans regularly watched both teams even if considering themselves "supporters" of only one. This practice continued into the early 1960s but as travel became easier, and the cost of entry to matches rose, watching both teams became unusual and the rivalry intensified. A common stereotype is that City fans come from Manchester proper, while United fans come from elsewhere. A 2002 report by a researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University found that while it was true that a higher proportion of City season ticket holders came from Manchester postcode areas (40% compared to United's 29%), there were more United season ticket holders, the lower percentage being due to United's higher overall number of season ticket holders (27,667 compared to City's 16,481). The report noted that since the compiling of data in 2001, the number of both City and United season ticket holders had risen; expansion of United's ground and City's move to the City of Manchester Stadium have caused season ticket sales to increase further.
Over the last few years, Manchester City has also developed a notable rivalry with Liverpool, currently considered one of the biggest in association football. Though the two clubs had been involved in a title race in the 1976–77 season, Liverpool and City's modern rivalry began in the 2010s, with the Blues beating Liverpool to the 2013–14 title by just two points on the final day of the season. In the final of the 2015–16 League Cup, City defeated Liverpool on penalties after a 1–1 draw. The two clubs met in European competition for the first time in the 2017–18 Champions League quarter-finals, where Liverpool won 5–1 on aggregate, ultimately reaching the final and then winning the competition a year later. In the 2018–19 season, City again won the title on the final day, with the Blues' 98 points and Liverpool's 97 being the third- and fourth-highest Premier League points totals ever. The following season, Liverpool clinched the title, recording 99 points (the second-highest Premier League total ever after Manchester City's 100 in 2017–18) to finish 18 points above runners-up City. The Blues then regained the title in 2020–21 and outgunned Liverpool in another closely-fought title race in 2021–22, to finish with 93 points to Liverpool's 92.
The success of the two teams in the 2010s and 2020s has led to the development of a rivalry between Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, the managers of Liverpool and Manchester City, with the two previously having been the respective managers of Der Klassiker rivals Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. At the end of the 2018–19 season, Guardiola described his relationship with Klopp as a "beautiful rivalry" and called Klopp's Liverpool team "the strongest opponents I have faced in my career as a manager". In September 2019, Klopp hailed Guardiola for being his 'greatest rival ever', after both were nominated for the FIFA Men's Coach of the Year award in 2019, which Klopp ultimately won. In a 2019 survey, City fans answered that Liverpool, and not Manchester United, are the club's biggest rivals.
Manchester City also have long established local rivalries with Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic, and Stockport County, and more recent competitive Premier League rivalries with Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Arsenal.
The holding company of Manchester City, Manchester City Limited, is a private limited company, with approximately 54 million shares in issue. The club has been in private hands since 2007, when the major shareholders agreed to sell their holdings to UK Sports Investments Limited (UKSIL), a company controlled by former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. UKSIL then made a formal offer to buy the shares held by several thousands of small shareholders.
Prior to the Thaksin takeover, the club was listed on the specialist independent equity market PLUS (formerly OFEX), where it had been listed since 1995. On 6 July 2007, having acquired 75% of the shares, Thaksin de-listed the club and re-registered it as a private company. By August, UKSIL had acquired over 90% of the shares and exercised its rights under the Companies Act to "squeeze out" the remaining shareholders, and acquire the entire shareholding. Thaksin Shinawatra became chairman of the club and two of Thaksin's children, Pintongta and Oak Chinnawat became directors. Former chairman John Wardle stayed on the board for a year, but resigned in July 2008 following Nike executive Garry Cook's appointment as executive chairman in May. The club made a pre-tax loss of £11m in the fiscal year ending 31 May 2007, the final year for which the club published accounts as a public company.
Thaksin's purchase prompted a period of transfer spending at the club, in total around £30 million, whereas over the several previous seasons Manchester City's net spending had been among the lowest in the Premier League. A year later, this investment was dwarfed by an influx of money derived from the club's takeover. On 1 September 2008, Abu Dhabi-based Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed the takeover of Manchester City. The deal, worth a reported £200 million, was announced on the morning of 1 September. It sparked various transfer "deadline-day" rumours and bids such as the club's attempt to gazump Manchester United's protracted bid to sign Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur for a fee in excess of £30 million. Minutes before the transfer window closed, the club signed Robinho from Real Madrid for a British record transfer fee of £32.5 million. The wealth of the new owners meant that, in the summer of 2009, City were able to finance the purchase of experienced international players prior to the new season, spending more than any other club in the Premier League.
Created in the 2013–14 season to manage the global footballing interests of the Abu Dhabi United Group, City Football Group (CFG) is an umbrella corporation owning stakes in a network of global clubs for the purposes of resource sharing, academy networking and marketing.
In addition to Manchester City, City Football Group owns stakes in a number of clubs:
The City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester, known as the Etihad Stadium since 2011 for sponsorship reasons, is on a 200-year lease from Manchester City Council to Manchester City. It has been the club's home since the end of the 2002–03 season, when City moved from Maine Road. Before moving to the stadium, the club spent in excess of £30 million to convert it to football use: the pitch was lowered, adding another tier of seating around it, and a new North Stand was constructed. The inaugural match at the new stadium was a 2–1 win over Barcelona in a friendly match. A 7,000-seat third tier on the South Stand was completed in time for the start of the 2015–16 football season, increasing the stadium's capacity to 55,097. A North Stand third tier is in development, potentially increasing capacity to around 61,000.
After playing home matches at five stadiums between 1880 and 1887, the club settled at Hyde Road Football Stadium, its home for 36 years. A fire destroyed the Main Stand in 1920, and the club moved to the 84,000 capacity Maine Road three years later. Maine Road, nicknamed the "Wembley of the North" by its designers, hosted the largest-ever crowd at an English club ground when 84,569 attended an FA Cup tie against Stoke City on 3 March 1934. Though Maine Road was redeveloped several times over its 80-year lifespan, by 1995 its capacity was restricted to 32,000, prompting the search for a new ground which culminated in the move to the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003; it was renamed the Etihad Stadium in 2011.
In September 2024, Manchester City revealed plans to expand the North Stand of the Etihad Stadium, increasing the total capacity to 61,000. The expanded section is scheduled to open for the start of the 2025–26 season. The project also includes the construction of a hotel, office premises for club staff and a new fan zone.
Based on trophy count, Manchester City are one of the most successful teams in England – their thirty-six major domestic, European and worldwide honours rank them third on the list of most decorated sides in England, ahead of Chelsea with 34.
The club's first major trophy was the 1904 FA Cup, though they had previously won three regional Manchester Cups before that point. Their first top division league title came in the 1936–37 season, with the first Charity Shield won in the following August. City's first League Cup and European trophy both came at the end of the 1969–70 season, the two trophies also constituting the team's first double of any kind. In the 2018–19 season, City became the first team to claim all of the major English trophies available in a single season, winning not just the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup, but also the Community Shield.
The 1970 Cup Winners' Cup victory remained City's only European trophy until their triumph in the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League. They have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League four times overall, losing in 2016, then winning en route to their first-ever final in 2021, losing in 2022, and winning en route to their maiden European Cup title in 2023.
Manchester City jointly held the record for most second division titles with Leicester City, both clubs having won the league on seven occasions, before Leicester clinched their eighth title in 2023–24. Man City's first victory was in 1898–99, and the most recent in 2001–02.