Club. City. Community. A Decade of UAE Investment in American Soccer.
As the United States enters a new era in soccer, it is worth examining the long-term investments that have helped shape the sport’s growth. For more than a decade, UAE-backed organizations have invested across the American soccer ecosystem. Funding a club. Building a city-shaping stadium district. Investing in human capital through community fields and youth programs. Three threads, one of the most consequential foreign investments in US sports history.
Club: New York City FC
Investing in the game
Chairman of City Football Group H.E. Khaldoon Al Mubarak and owner of City Football Group H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
In 2013, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan — UAE Deputy Prime Minister and majority owner of City Football Group — paid a then-record $100 million MLS expansion fee to found NYCFC, taking an 80% controlling stake alongside the New York Yankees.
After Sheikh Mansour acquired Manchester City FC in 2008, CFG proved its model: transforming a struggling English club into a Premier League dynasty. The American bet was backed by that track record.
By 2024, NYCFC and its forthcoming Queens stadium were valued at $1.5 billion — a 15x return on the original expansion fee, with CFG’s broader portfolio valued at $4.8 billion across 13 clubs on five continents.
City: Etihad Park and Willets Point
Investing in the city
What began as a soccer investment has become a city-building project.
NYCFC’s new 25,000-seat stadium, which broke ground in 2024 and is scheduled to open in 2027, sits at the center of the $3 billion Willets Point Redevelopment. One of the largest urban development projects in New York City history, the broader redevelopment is expected to generate $6.1 billion in economic activity and more than 15,000 jobs over the next 30 years.
The stadium will be New York City’s first soccer-specific soccer stadium and the league’s first fully electric venue. It will also feature “the Cube,” an immersive 11,000 square feet LED installation inspired by design concepts popularized by the Las Vegas Sphere.
Extending beyond the sport itself, the project serves as a catalyst for broader economic development, helping transform Queens through new investment, jobs and infrastructure.
“This is a transformational project that will be a cathedral for the sport, an anchor in the city’s sports landscape and an inspiration for the next generation of players and fans across New York. The impact of this stadium will be felt for decades to come.”
- Don Garber, MLS Commissioner
Community: Grassroots Infrastructure
investing in the next generation
National Field-Building Program
The UAE Embassy has partnered with schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, and MLS teams across the US to build 13 all-weather soccer fields in underserved communities. Philadelphia’s Conestoga Recreation Center is the most recent addition, completed in 2026 in partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba at the opening of a year-round soccer field at Conestoga Park in West Philadelphia in 2026.
NYC Mini-Pitch Initiative
NYCSI’s mini-pitch at PS 211 Elm Tree Elementary School in Corona, Queens, completed in June 2025.
In New York, Etihad Airways anchored a separate $3 million initiative that built 76+ mini-pitches across all five boroughs. Together, they represent UAE capital building the physical infrastructure American soccer runs on.
