Jim Ratcliffe, 71, of the United Kingdom and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, 45, of Qatar have at least two things in common. They are both very wealthy and they both consider themselves a life-long supporter of Manchester United, a football club competing in the Premier League.
Ratcliffe is the founder of INEOS, a petrochemicals company is based in London, England, United Kingdom. The company owns the football clubs OGC Nice and FC Lausanne–Sport, which are based in Nice, France and Lausanne, Switzerland, respectively.
Jassim is the chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank, which is based in Doha, Qatar. His father served as the fourth prime minister of Qatar from April 3, 2007 to June 26, 2013.
Based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, the club has two chairmen namely Avram A. Glazer, 63, and his brother Joel Glazer, 56. They were both born in Rochester, New York, United States.
In November 2022, the Glazers announced that they were considering the sale of the club to explore strategic alternatives. Ratcliffe and Jassim became the only two bidders to publicly declare their intention to buy out the club’s owners.
Initially, Jassim offered to buy 100% of the club. In October 2023, he withdrew the offer.
On December 24, 2023, INEOS and Manchester United confirmed that Racliffe acquired 25% of the club’s Class B shares and up to 25% of its publicly available Class A shares and he will give $300 million as investment into the club’s stadium in Old Trafford. The deal is subject to Premier League’s approval.
Born in Haaksbergen, Netherlands, Erik ten Hag, 53, has been the manager of the club since April 21, 2022. Altay Bayındır, 25, of Osmangazi, Turkey is currently the only Asian footballer in the club’s roster.


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