January 21 – Egypt’s Mansour Group have acquired a majority stake in Right To Dream, the company behind Danish top flight club FC Nordsjaelland.
The Mansour Group, one of the most powerful conglomerates in Egypt worth €5.8 billion with ties to the government, invested in the Danish club via UK-based arm Man Capital in a deal worth €100 million. Mansour Group chairman Mohamed Mansour is the seventh-richest man in Africa and 590th in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
“The Mansour family has a great love for football and four years ago made a strategic decision to go into football,” said Tom Vernon, who established Right To Dream in 1999 and acquired a 97% stake in Nordsjaelland in 2015. “With that fortune, most opportunities are open to them, so we are extremely proud that they found our perspective most interesting.”
Vernon will take a step back at the club, with Jan Laursen becoming the new chairman of the board. Laursen was formerly the club’s sport director.
The new owners also want to focus on a new academy in Egypt, a women’s team in Egypt and improvements at the Right To Dream academy in both Ghana and in Denmark. “ManSports … will now focus on establishing a Right To Dream academy in Egypt, and furthering the activities of the Right To Dream academy in Ghana, the FC Nordsjaelland club and academy in Denmark,” a statement said.
“Our partnership with Right To Dream is taking a strong African-born organisation, with values that align to our own, and sharing more of it with the world to change more people’s lives,” said Mohamed Mansour. “Growing the next generation of Egyptian football talent with aspiring boys and girls, and supporting the growth of our women’s team, is the most meaningful way for us to start investing in football.”
FC Nordsjaelland won the Danish top flight in 2012 under coach Kasper Hjulmand. The following season they participated in the Champions League, but finished bottom of their group. The club play their home matches in Farum, 20 kilometres north of Copenhagen.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1732602371labto1732602371ofdlr1732602371owedi1732602371sni@o1732602371fni1732602371