The growth of modern football is not measured only in titles or in the global expansion of its clubs, but also in the complex corporate architecture that sustains the sport’s largest organizations. In this context, City Football Group has become one of the most ambitious projects in world football: an international holding of clubs built around Manchester City, which has embraced a global network model to develop talent, expand markets and strengthen its presence across different leagues.

However, this expansion process has also come with a significant cost. During the 2024–2025 season, the group recorded record losses of £291.1 million (€336 million), more than triple the figure from the previous financial year. The data, compiled by the analysis unit Intelligence 2P of 2Playbook, reflects the financial impact of a model that, despite surpassing one billion in annual revenue, is still going through a phase of investment and consolidation across multiple football markets worldwide.

A global giant with massive revenues but negative results

Since its creation, the project driven by the citizen group has accumulated losses close to £1.7935 billion (more than €2.07 billion). Even so, the holding continues to operate with business figures typical of a major sports multinational. In the latest season, the aggregated revenues of all clubs within the group increased 4.7% year-on-year, reaching £977.1 million (€1.1283 billion).

This growth, however, did not fully reflect the performance of some of its affiliated clubs. The most evident case was Girona FC, whose financial evolution was not integrated into the group’s consolidated accounts due to the temporary transfer of its stake to a trust to avoid regulatory conflicts with UEFA during its participation in the UEFA Champions League. As a result, the holding was also unable to account for the record €16.5 million profit achieved by the Catalan club.

The weight of Manchester City and the challenge of a global model

Within the group’s corporate structure, Manchester City continues to be the main economic engine. The club managed by Pep Guardiola generates slightly more than 70% of the holding’s total revenue, a proportion that remains relatively stable across the different business areas. Even so, the English team itself closed the 2024–2025 season with losses of £9.9 million (€11.2 million), ending four consecutive years of profit.

The decline in transfer-related capital gains was one of the factors influencing this result, along with the lower impact of broadcasting and European competition revenues. Payments from UEFA fell by more than 33% year-on-year due to the team’s shorter run in continental tournaments, while domestic television rights income also declined compared with the previous season. Despite this, the commercial area continued to be the main support of the business, driven both by Manchester City and by group clubs such as New York City FC and Esporte Clube Bahia, which experienced significant growth in their commercial revenues.