Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (; born 20 November 1970), often referred to as Sheikh Mansour, is an Emirati royal and politician who is the current vice president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, as well as the minister of presidential court and member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. He is the brother of the current president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and is married to Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. A billionaire, he holds stakes in a variety of football clubs through City Football Group, including Premier League club Manchester City F.C.

Mansour is involved in various state-owned businesses in the UAE. He is chairman of the two UAE sovereign wealth funds (Emirates Investment Authority, Mubadala Investment Company) and a board member of a third (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority). He is chairman of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

Mansour is the owner of the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), an investment company for the Abu Dhabi royal family, that acquired Manchester City in September 2008. The football club, which is operated by Khaldoon Al Mubarak and the CFG, has overseen a significant transformation since the takeover, having won seven top-flight league titles, including its first in 44 years and first Premier League title in 2012 and the Champions League title in 2023. Mansour owns multiple other sports clubs, including New York City FC in Major League Soccer. Human rights groups and other critics have characterized Sheikh Mansour's sports investments as sportswashing to improve the image of the UAE amid its controversial human rights record.

Early life and education

Mansour was born in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi on 21 November 1970, the fifth son of the Emir of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. His mother is Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Al Ketbi and he has five full-brothers: Mohammed, Hamdan, Hazza, Tahnoun, and Abdullah. They are known as Bani Fatima or sons of Fatima.

Mansour attended Santa Barbara Community College as an English student in 1989. He is a graduate of the United Arab Emirates University where he received a bachelor's degree in international affairs in 1993.

Political career

In 1997, Sheikh Mansour was appointed chairman of the presidential office, at which time his father Sheikh Zayed was the president of the UAE. After the death of his father, he was appointed by his eldest half-brother, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as the first minister of presidential affairs of the United Arab Emirates, following a merger of the presidential office and presidential court. He also served in a number of positions in Abu Dhabi to support his brother, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was still the Crown Prince at the time.

He was appointed chairman of the ministerial council for services (now Ministerial Development Council). Since 2000 he chaired National Center for Documentation and Research. In the 2004 reshuffle, he became minister for presidential affairs. In 2005, he became the deputy chairman of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), chairman of the Emirates Foundation, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. In 2006, he was named the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department. In 2007, he was appointed chairman of Khalifa bin Zayed Charity Foundation.

Mansour served as the chairman of First Gulf Bank until 2006, and as a member of the board of trustees of the Zayed charitable and humanitarian foundation. Mansour has established scholarship programs for UAE students to study abroad. He is also chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority (EHRA). On 11 May 2009, he was appointed deputy prime minister, retaining his cabinet post of minister of presidential affairs. On 29 March 2023, with the approval of the UAE Federal Supreme Council, the UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a resolution, appointing Mansour as the country's second vice president, to serve alongside Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai.

In October 2022, whilst Mansour's tenure as deputy prime minister, he was accused of helping Roman Abramovich and other wealthy Russian oligarchs evade sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was described as being "central" to the flow of sanctioned Russian assets to the UAE.

Business portfolio

Mansour is the chairman of the Emirati state-owned Mubadala Investment Company. He was formerly chairman of IPIC. After the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal was highlighted and Khadem al-Qubaisi, who was managing IPIC, was arrested in 2016, IPIC was folded into Aabar Investments. Qubaisi blamed Mansour and the UAE authorities for using him as a scapegoat in the affair.

In 2005, he was appointed as a member of the Supreme Petroleum Council. In the same year, he chaired the board of directors of IPIC and became a board member of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). In 2007, he was appointed chairman of the Emirates Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of UAE.

Mansour has a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic after investing $280 million in the project through Aabar in July 2009. Aabar also has a 9.1% stake in Daimler after purchasing the stake for $2.7 billion in March 2009 and it was reported that Aabar wishes to increase its stake to 15% in August 2010. He owns the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC) which partnered with British Sky Broadcasting to establish Sky News Arabia – a new Arabic-language news channel headquartered in Abu Dhabi. ADMIC also owns the English-language newspaper '' The National'', and bought a 2.1% stake in pan-European channel Euronews in 2017.

Sport

Mansour is an accomplished horse rider who has won a number of endurance racing tournaments held in the Middle East. He is chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority. In late 2024 he purchased the Thoroughbred horse breeding farm, Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard in Neuvy-au-Houlme for €28 million. He is a patron of the annual Zayed International Half Marathon competition in Abu Dhabi.

He is chairman of the Al Jazira sports company and was a leading figure in Abu Dhabi's successful bid to host the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 and 2010. The company owns Al Jazira, which plays football, volleyball, handball, and basketball. The football club won the President's Cup in 2010–2011, 2011–2012 and 2015–2016.

Ownership of Manchester City

In September 2008, Mansour acquired Manchester City from former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. By 23 September 2008, the Abu Dhabi United Group, backed by Mansour, completed their takeover negotiations and the ownership was transferred to them. He also owns the City Football Group, which was founded in 2014 and consists of Manchester City, Bahia, Melbourne City, New York City FC, Mumbai City and others. Mansour has only been to two Manchester City games in his time as owner, in 2010 and 2023, the latter being the 2023 UEFA Champions League final.

In 2023, a leak by ''The Times'' confirmed that City owners made sponsorship payments of £30 million to the club in two parts in 2012 and 2013. As per an unpublished 2020 UEFA report, the payments were “disguised equity funding” and did not come from Etisalat. A financial broker, Jaber Mohamed, assisted Sheikh Mansour and ADUG in facilitating the payments. In 2025, ''The Athletic'' revealed that Jaber Mohamed has served as the General Director of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court (CPC) and was one of the two senior aides of Mohamed bin Zayed (MbZ). Another senior aide of MbZ and undersecretary at CPC, Mohamed Al Mazrouei also served at City’s board.

Personal life

Sheikh Mansour married Sheikha Alia bint Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed in the mid-1990s. They have one son together, Zayed, who married Sheikha Meera bint Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan in May 2022.

In 2005, Mansour married Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. They have two daughters and three sons: Fatima (2006), Mohammed (2007), Hamdan (2011), Latifa (2014), and Rashid (2017).

Honours

* Honorary Knight Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (2013)

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahyan, Mansour Zayed Sultan
1970 births
Living people
United Arab Emirates University alumni
Mansour Zayed Sultan
Emirati bankers
Emirati Muslims
Vice presidents of the United Arab Emirates
Deputy prime ministers of the United Arab Emirates
Children of presidents of the United Arab Emirates
Emirati football chairmen and investors
Manchester City F.C. directors and chairmen
Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Sons of monarchs
Emirati investors
21st-century businesspeople
Emirati corporate directors
Businesspeople awarded knighthoods
Non-profit executives