Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, owner of Manchester City Football Club, has been named ‘Local Sports Personality of the Year’ for his part in steering the team to FA Cup victory this year.
UAE’s deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs was given the award on Sunday by the Dubai Sports Council as part of the third edition of the Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards.
The Abu Dhabi royal, who is also president of Al-Jazira Club, was chosen from among 135 nominees from 16 countries.
He was honoured for his efforts in driving Manchester City FC to become the champions of the English Premier League, state news agency WAM said.
Sheikh Mansour bought the Manchester football club in 2008 and his investment of nearly $1bn helped lead it to FA Cup victory in May, the first time the club has won the tournament since 1969.
However, the team’s success has come at a cost and this month it announced losses of £194.9m ($307.4m) for the 2010-11 financial year, which represents one of the biggest ever reported loss by an English Premier League club.
But despite the losses, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said the club would be “redoubling its efforts” to achieve its ambitions to establish Man City as an “internationally competitive” club.
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