CFG acquired 80% of Palermo, which will compete in Serie B in Italy next season – Disclosure
O City Football Group (CFG) made official this Monday (4th) the purchase of 80% of the Palermo, which competes in the Italian Serie B. For the acquisition, CFG paid €13.5 million. The announcement was made by Dario Mirri, president of the Sicilian team, at a press conference. The manager kept the remaining 20% of the team and will continue as president.
“The objective, at the moment, is to continue in Serie B for one season. Next, make the leap to the Italian first division”, said Ferran Soriano, CEO of CFG.
global conglomerate
With the deal, the group manages to control 11 teams around the world, being the Manchester City main. The other clubs controlled by the CFG are:
Girona (Spain), New York City (United States), Melbourne City (Australia), Mumbai City (India), Lommel (Belgium), Troyes (France), Montevideo City Torque (Uruguai), Yokohama Marinos (Japan) e Sichuan Jiuniu (China).
The CFG is also negotiating the purchase of SAF (Sociedade Anônima do Futebol) from Bahiawhich disputes the Brazilian Serie B. The traditional Bahian club, Brazilian champion in 1959 and 1988, currently occupies the third position of the tournament and would rise to the elite, if the competition ended today.
Another tentacle of CFG in South America is Bolívar, one of the main teams in Bolivia. City Football Group has a technical partnership agreement with the team and implementation of the most modern management in the club. As an advantage, it will keep a percentage of the sale of players revealed during the partnership and will have preference in the hiring of athletes.
From bankrupt to Serie B
In 2019, Palermo was administratively relegated by the Federal Court of the Italian Football Federation because of financial problems. At the time, the club was fighting for a return to Serie A, but ended up relegated to Serie D, after having declared bankruptcy.
After relegation, Palermo were sold to Future Sports & Entertainment for a symbolic €10. The group took over the €22.8 million debts the Sicilian team was carrying at the time. Since then, Palermo has managed to climb two divisions to reach Serie B. Last season, they won the Serie C title after beating Padova in the final, 1-0.
broken deal
The CFG was also close to acquiring the NAC Breda in recent months. However, the Dutch team’s supporters made a strong campaign on social networks against the deal. There were chants against the acquisition at the games of the traditional club from Breda (inland Netherlands) and the display of a banner against City Football Group: “Stay out of our territory, NAC is not part of City Group history”.
City Football Group released its 2020/2021 balance sheet with a 14.4% increase in turnover to £624.5m. Even still suffering from the limitations imposed by the pandemic, the CFG reduced its loss to £52.9 million pounds. The previous season the loss had been £205.3m.
