From Manchester United’s poor cousin to a global powerhouse. Now one of the richest football clubs on earth has won a clutch of domestic and European trophies.

Manchester City are a Premier League club from Manchester, England. They play their home matches at the Etihad Stadium, which has a capacity of 55,097.

City are managed by Pep Guardiola, the former manager of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Manchester City are the fierce local rivals of Manchester United. Traditionally, United were the more successful of the two sides, but City had a spell of success in the 1960s and later became a consistent force in the Premier League following a takeover by Sheikh Mansour in 2008.

City have been crowned English champions in 1936/37, 1967/68, 2011/12, 2013/14, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24. They are first club Premier League team to win four consecutive titles..

They have also lifted the League Cup eight times and the FA Cup seven times, the most recent in 2023 when they beat locals rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the final at Wembley.

In 2023, City become only the second English team, after Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in 1999, to have won the treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the same season.

 

Manchester City pre-takeover

Manchester City FC were founded in 1899 and joined the Football League in 1904. Their initial heyday was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they won the European Cup Winners Cup (1969/70), FA Cup (1968/69) and League Cup (1969/70) as well as the 1967/68 league title.

The club endured a period of decline following the 1981 FA Cup final, which they lost to Tottenham Hotspur in a replay.

Manchester City were at their lowest in 1998, when they fell down to English soccer's third tier for the first time in their history.

During the 1998/99 campaign, while Manchester United won the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup, City won Division Two under the guidance of Joe Royle.

Shaun Goater starred in Division Two and again in Division One the following season as City won their second successive promotion.

In 2000/01, City were relegated from the Premier League, but they won promotion at the first attempt after Kevin Keegan succeeded Royle.

City bounced between mid-table and relegation battles in the years that followed. There was excitement after former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra bought the club in June 2007 while in exile in London and appointed Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager, but he left after just 15 months in charge.

 

Manchester City's takeover

Manchester City were bought by Sheikh Mansour in 2008 and immediately signaled their intention to challenge Europe's elite by beating Chelsea to the signature of Brazil striker Robinho.

Several high-profile signings followed within the next three years, including Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Roque Santa Cruz and David Silva.

Initially, Mark Hughes was manager when the takeover happened, but midway through the 2009/10 season, he was unceremoniously shown the door and replaced by Roberto Mancini.

The 2011/12 campaign saw City claim their first top flight title for 44 years. That title victory has gone down in history as one of the greatest in soccer history. Manchester City fought back from 2-1 down against Queen Park Rangers to win 3-2 in stoppage time, and pip Manchester United to the title in the final game of the season.

In 2012/13, City lost their crown to Manchester United, who had been reinvigorated by beating their city rivals to the signature of Robin van Persie from Arsenal.

Mancini lost his job as a result, but this season was also the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era at United. The end of the Scotsman's dynasty paved the way for a blue dawn in Manchester.

In 2013/14, City followed their previous success with another league title under Manuel Pellegrini. However, they never truly dominated English football until Pep Guardiola took over as manager in 2016.

The 2014/15 season saw City beaten to the Premier League title by Chelsea and 2015/16 saw the Citizens finish behind Leicester City, Arsenal and Tottenham in a bizarre campaign. By the end of that season, it had already been announced that Guardiola would take over from Pellegrini ahead of the 2016/17 season.

 

Pep Guardiola era

Pep Guardiola endured a difficult start to his tenure as Manchester City manager, only managing third place in 2016/17 as his side finished behind Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Claudio Bravo struggled in goal and Guardiola was unable to match Antonio Conte's Chelsea, who played with three at the back and Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses as wingbacks.

However, in 2017/18, City stormed to the title and accumulated a record Premier League points tally of 100. Their squad depth proved vital and their goalkeeping problems had been resolved by the signing of Brazil's Ederson.

In 2018/19, City followed this up with another Premier League title success, achieving the domestic treble by also winning the League Cup and FA Cup.

The following season was a challenging one as City finished second to Liverpool in the Premier League and were banned from the UEFA Champions League for allegedly breaching Financial Fair Play rules. That ban was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

However, Manchester City continued to assert their dominance in the top flight by winning the 2020/21 and 2021/22 Premier League titles.

Manchester City were hailed as one of the best teams in Premier League history after they clinched their fifth title in six years in the 2022/23 season.

Second-placed Arsenal's loss to Nottingham Forest, on the penulitmate weekend of the season ensured City could not be beaten, and they sealed the achievement in style by defeating Chelsea 1-0 for their 12th consecutive league win.

City made it a league and cup double season after beating local rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley, with both goals coming from Ilkay Gundogan.

In the 2023/24 season, Manchester City became the first Premier League team to win four consecutive titles. Erling Haaland scored 27 goals, winning the Golden Boot for the second season in succession.

 

 

Manchester City in Europe under Guardiola

Initially, Manchester City struggled to win the UEFA Champions League despite the best efforts of Guardiola to turn them into a European superpower.

In 2016/17, they were beaten in the last-16 by a Monaco side who stunned the world by reaching the semi-finals. The record-breaking 2017/18 City side were knocked out by Liverpool in the quarter-finals. In 2018/19, they were eliminated at the same stage by Tottenham Hotspur.

This meant that despite steamrolling most Premier League opponents en route to back-to-back domestic titles, City were knocked out by opposition from their own league on successive occasions.

The 2019/20 knockout stages started well with victory over Real Madrid, but City were shocked by Lyon in their one-legged quarter-final tie.

City reached their first-ever Champions League final in the 2020/21 season, only to lose 1-0 to fellow Premier League side Chelsea. Kai Havertz grabbing the only goal of a dull final.

The 2021/22 Champions League campaign came to a dramatic end for Manchester City in the semi-finals. Real Madrid came from behind, in the dying moments of the tie, to secure a 3-1 second-leg win and 6-5 aggregate success.

But they finally cleared their biggest hurdle in June 2023.

Rodri fired the winning goal as Manchester City claimed Champions League glory and completed the treble with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Inter Milan.

The midfielder rifled home in the 68th minute as the Premier League winners City wore down the Italians in a draining final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.

The contest was a tight one, with City suffering a serious blow in pursuit of the prize that has eluded them for so long when they lost Kevin De Bruyne to injury in the first half.

The prolific Erling Haaland was also kept quiet by a stubborn Inter side but Rodri eventually made the breakthrough with a firm strike after a Bernardo Silva pass was deflected into his path.

It capped a momentous season for City having also won the FA Cup as well as a fifth Premier League title in six years. Their success means they also join rivals Manchester United as the only side to have won all three of those trophies in the same season.

It meant mission accomplished for owner Sheikh Mansour, who was present in Istanbul at only his second match since purchasing the club in 2008 and subsequently propelling them to the game's top table.

Guardiola could also celebrate Champions League success again 12 years after the second of his two wins as Barcelona boss.

City failed to win back-to-back Champions League trophies the following season, after a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss to Real Madrid.

The holders were beaten 4-3 on spot-kicks by the Spanish giants after their quarter-final tie ended 4-4 on aggregate – 1-1 on the night – despite a dominant display from Guardiola’s side in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium.

 

Manchester City's rivalries

Manchester United have a longstanding rivalry with their so-called 'noisy neighbours', but the rivalry turned up a notch following Carlos Tevez's move from United to City.

A famous Manchester derby during the 2009/10 season saw Michael Owen score the winning goal for United in a 4-3 victory. This was a match where it became clear that City were increasingly becoming a threat to United's dominance in Manchester and England alike.

In October 2011, Manchester City beat Manchester United 6-1. This game famously saw Mario Balotelli celebrate a goal by lifting up his shirt to reveal the message "Why always me?" after he had been in the headlines for reportedly having his house set on fire by a firework.

City went on to win the reverse fixture 1-0 thanks to a goal from captain Vincent Kompany en route to winning the Premier League title.

After winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the 2022/23 season, City joined rivals United as the only side to have won all three of those trophies in the same season.

Rivalries with Chelsea and Liverpool developed while City fought against these teams for trophies.

In 2018/19, another Kompany goal played a key role in settling the title race. His fierce strike against Leicester City led to City beating Liverpool to the league trophy. City's 1-0 victory on May 6 ensured that they did not drop points in a closely-fought fixture which looked for much of the game like it could go either way. Ultimately, they beat Liverpool to the Premier League crown by one point.

City also claimed the 2021/22 Premier League trophy by one point from Liverpool.

Net worth

Manchester City were worth £4.25billion in May 2022, making them the sixth most valuable football club in the world, according to Forbes.