Egyptian conglomerate Mansour Group has invested $120M to take control of the Right To Dream academy, which was founded in Ghana in '99 by former ManU scout Tom Vernon. The Mansour Group, which reported revenues in excess of $7.5B in '18, has created an entity called ManSports to "oversee its first foray into the world of sports." Right To Dream will begin construction of a new academy in West Cairo this year "ahead of an intended intake of students next year." The launch of a new professional women's team in Egypt is expected to follow soon after. The group is "also keen" to explore U.K. opportunities at club and academy level.
Right To Dream started out with a "handful of youngsters being trained" by Vernon on "basic dust-filled pitches in Accra." The academy "has grown to such extent" that it bought Danish top-flight side Nordsjaelland in '15. It has produced 20 Ghana internationals since it was founded (BBC, 1/20).
Vernon will retain a minority stake and is "remaining in place" as CEO to oversee the opening of the new academy in Egypt and plans for a U.K. project. U.K. expansion "remains in the planning stage but will include a Right to Dream academy as a minimum." That academy will "feed into a British club, if a suitable one can be acquired, or the first team squad of Nordsjaelland." Vernon: "We feel like the academy system in the U.K. has a lot of questions still to ask itself, and that we have some of the answers" (CITY A.M., 1/20).
