Ferran Soriano i Compte is the Chief Executive Officer of the Premier League"s Manchester City F.C., Major League Soccer"s New York City F.C., and the A-League"s Melbourne City Football Club.
Education
Ferran Soriano is an Master of Business Administration and Business studies graduate at Escuela Superior de Administraciónew york Dirección de Empresas , the New York RPI and Université Catholique de Louvain of Belgium.
He speaks Catalan, Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.
Career
Between 2003 and 2008, he was the Vice-President and General Manager of Football Club Barcelona. Soriano has held a number of positions in companies in a variety of industries, such as consumer products, telecommunications and entertainment, and has held senior positions at The Mac Group, Reckitt Benckiser, and Cluster Consulting, a management consulting firm he co-founded in 1993. Between 2003 and 2008, Soriano was Economy Vice President of Barcelona, having been elected with the Joan Laporta’s ticket to the club"s Board of Directors.
He also acted as interim Chief Executive Officer. Barcelona"s revenues, during Soriano"s tenure, increased from €123 million to €308m, while a €73m loss was turned into an €88m profit.
On July 6th, 2008, Soriano and seven other Board Members resigned, after a vote of non-confidence against the Board, amidst growing disagreement with Laporta’s "leadership style." In April 2009, Soriano was elected Chairman of the Catalonia-based airline Spanair, rescued by the Catalan government from SAS with the objective of creating a hub in the Barcelona airport. Revenue improved and the company started cutting costs, but, on 27 January 2012, after a deal with Qatar Airways fell through, the airline ceased operations.
On 1 September 2012, Soriano was appointed Manchester City F.C. Chief Executive Officer. In the first year and months of his tenure, Manchester City has cut its losses in half and he claims the club will break even in the 2013-2014 season. In the same period City has bought an Master of Library Science franchise in New York to create New York City Football Club and an existing football club in Australia (Melbourne Heart Football Club) initiating the club’s expansion strategy.
In January 2013, Barcelona president Sandro Rosell stated that "Manchester City have attempted to entice a number of staff from the Nou Camp", but added "there were no fish left".
Rosell alleged that the Manchester club tried, in an "offensive" approach, to sign players "from all levels of Barcelona"s structure," and also other employees of the Catalan side. None of this happened, and in contrast Football Club Barcelona President resigned in January 2014 In February 2013, Soriano was accused by the Football Club Barcelona board led by Rosell of authorising payments for "spying" during his time as vice-president of Barcelona. A judge cleared Soriano of these allegations On 18 September 2014, a Barcelona court banned Soriano from "managing other people"s wealth" for two years in Spain on account of the collapse of Spanair.
Soriano and 10 other former Spanair board members were also fined a total of £8.5m by the court.