Man City owner Sheikh Mansour secretly bought oldest surviving FA Cup trophy for £760,000

Man City owner Sheikh Mansour purchased the oldest surviving FA Cup for a whopping £760,000 in September 2020. On Friday, the club announced that the Emirati secretly bought the trophy from West Ham co-owner, David Gold, at an auction. The Football Association Challenge Cup trophy, a forerunner of the FA Cup in use today, was presented to winning teams from 1896 to 1910 when the original was stolen from a shop in Birmingham after rivals Aston Villa won the competition.

ALSO READ: Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema To Face Blackmail Trial Over Valbuena Sex Tape Scandal

Man City chief Sheikh Mansour historic FA Cup trophy

Earlier on Friday, Man City revealed that owner Sheikh Mansour secretly purchased the second edition of the FA Cup (Football Association Challenge Cup trophy) in September 2020. The trophy is believed to be one of the most significant artefacts in world football and the oldest surviving piece of FA Cup silverware in England. It was also the first trophy that Man City won as a club, 116 years ago, beating Bolton Wanderers 1-0 in the 1904 FA Cup final. The trophy was the first piece of silverware won by a Manchester club.

ALSO READ: Who Is Amad Diallo? Why Did Man United Sign Highly-rated Atalanta Teenager In £37m Deal?

Man City claimed that their recently-purchased trophy has been offered on loan to the National Football Museum in Manchester, where it has been housed since 2005. A statement from the club read that the older surviving FA Cup trophy was put up for sale at an auction last year by West Ham supremo David Gold, who had owned it since 2005 and viewed it as a ‘unique piece of football history’. However, at the time, the name of the buyer was kept a secret. 

Gold had reportedly purchased that trophy for £478,000 in 2005. There were fears that the trophy could disappear from the UK given that the trophy was amongst the crown jewels of artefacts in England. 

ALSO READ: Omar Richards To Bayern? UCL Holders Plot SHOCK 'free' Summer Transfer For Reading Star

Sheikh Mansour net worth: How much is the Man City owner worth? 

According to reports from Celebrity Net Worth,  Sheikh Mansour's net worth is an estimated $30 billion. The 50-year-old's net worth is boosted by his ownership of Man City and other business ventures. Sheikh Mansour has been the Man City owner since 2008. 

ALSO READ: Portugal Coaches Use New Video Data Analysis Of 'mice And Monkeys' To Track Ronaldo & Co.

DISCLAIMER: The above information is sourced from various websites/ media reports. The website does not guarantee a 100% accuracy of the figures.

Image Credits - mancity.com