One of the world’s largest football clubs, Manchester United, who are also one of the most valuable sport clubs in the world, currently valued at around 6 billion British Pounds, could be sold in the very near future.
It is widely anticipated that the Glazer family, hated owners of the club since 2005, will sell United in the coming few months with reports indicating it could happen before Easter, if a bid is accepted.
The most significant bid that was made for the purchase of the club has been made by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank.
Born in 1982, the prospective buyer is said to be a lifelong United supporter. Al Thani was educated in the United Kingdom at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, where he graduated as officer cadet. He currently serves as chairman of QIB (Qatar Islamic Bank) – which is one of the leading banks in the country having been established in 1982. QIB boasts headquarters across the world including one in the UK. Al Thani was previously a board member at member at Credit Suisse Group AG and Credit Suisse AG Zurich.
With Al Thani being the son of former Qatar Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, there have been speculations regarding the connection of the state of Qatar to the potential purchase of United. But against popular notion around the web and sports journalism, the new potential owner of Manchester United is a private businessman who is not backed by the state of Qatar, and decisions about the club will not be influenced by the Gulf country. There has been a similar situation with another English club, Chelsea FC who’s previous owner, Roman Abramovich, a Russian businessman, bought 100% of the stocks, but the club itself had no actual connection to the country of Russia.
As it is widely known, the Qatar Sports Investments, a closed shareholding organization founded in 2005 and based in Doha, Qatar, who’s Revenues QSI are reinvested into Qatar’s sport, leisure, and entertainment sectors, currently own Paris Saint Germain, the largest football club in France.
Although there have been many speculations about the matter, the QSI and Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani have no official connections, with the bid being the first of its kind for the Qatari businessman and his group, while the QSI have been investing in sports and football in general for more than a decade.
