Manchester City FC: 10 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know

Manchester City Football Clun (FC) has been around for almost 150 years. Many of you reading this already know that they were crowned as the 2023 EUFA Champions League Winners over the weekend. The club beat Inter Milan by one goal to zero in at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.

There’s probably a lot that you don’t know about Manchester City FB, but today my aim is to change that…

Here are 10 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know about Manchester City FC

1. The club was founded as St. Mark’s (West Gorton) in 1880. The club’s name was changed to Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and to Manchester City FC in 1894.

2. Between 1923 and 2003 the club’s home ground was Maine Road. They moved to 53.400 capacity Ethiad Stadium (also known as The City Manchester Stadium) in East Manchester in 2003.

3. Manchester City FC initially had a black kit with a Maltese-style cross in 1884, but they changed to their current colors in 1887 after rebranding as Ardwick AFC. They briefly wore a two-tone blue shirt and later switched to white. In 1894, when the club became Manchester City, they returned to using a blue shirt (specifically sky blue), which led to their nickname “the Sky Blues.” Since then, the club has made minor modifications to the design and shade of their sky blue kits.

4. Manchester City FC joined the Football League in 1892 and won the FA Cup in 1904. They had a successful period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, winning multiple titles under Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison. However, they faced a decline after losing the FA Cup final in 1981 and were relegated to the third tier in 1998. They returned to the top tier in 2001-02 and have been consistently in the Premier League since 2002-03.

5. Besides winning the EUFA Champions League, Manchester City FC also won the FA Cup and ended on the top of the log of the English Premiere League in 2023. In case you didn’t know, that means that “they completed the continental treble”. Only eight teams have won the continental treble (incorporating only the European Cup or Champions League) in Europe.

6. Manchester City FC received considerable financial investment both in playing staff and facilities following its takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008. The group bought the club for £210 million in September of that year. On the same day, they smashed the club’s transfer record to sign Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 million.

7. Manchester City FC topped the Deloitte Football Money League at the end of the 2021–22 season, making it the football club with the highest revenue in the world, approximated at €731 million. In 2022, Forbes estimated the club was the sixth-most valuable in the world, worth $4.250 billion.

8. Over the course of its history, the club has won nine league titles, seven FA Cups, eight League Cups, six FA Community Shields, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, and one Champions League.

9. Manchester City FC has a strong rivalry with Manchester United FC. It’s known as the Manchester derby. The matches between the two teams are fiercely contested and hold great significance for the fans and the city of Manchester.

10. In 2015, Manchester City FC announced the arrival of Kevin De Bruyne (the captain of the Belgian National Football team) on a six-year contract, for a reported club-record fee of £55 million (€75 million), making him the second most expensive transfer in British football history after Ángel Di María’s move to Manchester United in 2014.

Well, there you have it, 10 Interesting Facts you might not have known about Manchester City FC. If I’ve left out something important, feel free to comment below. Feedback is appreciated and welcome here.

Watch this space for updates in the Facts category on Running Wolf’s Rant.