The City Group, owner of Manchester City and Girona among a long list of clubs, officially assumed control of Bahía, of the Brazilian first division, founded 92 years ago in the city of Salvador and twice league champion.
The transfer took place five months after the Bahía partners approved the sale of 90% of their shares to the international group for some 200 million dollars.
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The CEO of the City Group, Ferran Sorianowho participated in the transfer ceremony, stated that the conglomerate’s intention is to turn Bahía into “the second largest club” among the thirteen controlled by the group.
Soriano admitted that one of the objectives of the agreement is to search for and train Brazilian talent, but denied that the intention is to turn Bahía into a mere training platform for young stars.
The City Group has already signed for Bahía
Despite the fact that the transfer of control became effective this Thursday, the City Group has led the Bahia soccer department since the end of last year and has invested some 16 million dollars to recruit reinforcements for this year’s Brazilian Championship.
These resources are part of the 200 million dollars that the City Group promised to contribute to Bahía, half of them to sign players, 30% to pay the entity’s debts and 20% for investments in sports infrastructure.
The 12 clubs of the City Group
The City Group controls, in addition to Bahia, English Manchester City, American New York City, Australian Melbourne City, Uruguayan Montevideo City Torque, Spanish Girona, French Troyes, Belgian Lommel, Indian Mumbay City, Sichuan Chinese Jimiu, the Japanese Yokohama Marinos and the Italian Palermo.
Another Brazilian club in the hands of companies
Bahía joins the list of Brazilian clubs that have sold control to business groups in recent years, as a result of the high indebtedness of some of the more traditional clubs.
Among them, the Cruzeiro was acquired by former soccer player Ronaldo Nazário, Botafogo is controlled by the American magnate john textor and Vasco da Gama, for the US fund 777 partnerswhich controls Italian Genoa and has part of Spanish Sevilla.
