In 1997, Sheikh Mansour was appointed chairman of the presidential office, at which time his father Sheikh Zayed was the
president of the UAE. After the death of his father, he was appointed by his eldest half-brother, Sheikh
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as the first minister of presidential affairs of the United Arab Emirates, following a merger of the presidential office and presidential court. He also served in a number of positions in Abu Dhabi to support his brother, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who was still the Crown Prince at the time. He was appointed chairman of the ministerial council for services (now Ministerial Development Council). Since 2000 he chaired
National Center for Documentation and Research. In the 2004 reshuffle, he became minister for presidential affairs. In 2005, he became the deputy chairman of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), chairman of the
Emirates Foundation, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, and
Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. In 2006, he was named the chairman of the
Abu Dhabi Judicial Department. In 2007, he was appointed chairman of Khalifa bin Zayed Charity Foundation. Mansour served as the chairman of
First Gulf Bank until 2006, and as a member of the board of trustees of the Zayed charitable and humanitarian foundation. Mansour has established scholarship programs for UAE students to study abroad. He is also chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority (EHRA). On 29 March 2023, with the approval of the UAE
Federal Supreme Council, the
UAE president Sheikh
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a resolution, appointing Mansour as the country's second
vice president, to serve alongside Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and
prime minister of the UAE and
ruler of Dubai. In October 2022, whilst Mansour's tenure as deputy prime minister, he was accused of helping
Roman Abramovich and other wealthy
Russian oligarchs evade sanctions during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was described as being "central" to the flow of sanctioned Russian assets to the UAE.
Business portfolio Mansour is the chairman of the Emirati state-owned
Mubadala Investment Company. He was formerly chairman of IPIC. After the
1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)
scandal was highlighted and
Khadem al-Qubaisi, who was managing IPIC, was arrested in 2016, IPIC was folded into Aabar Investments. Qubaisi blamed Mansour and the UAE authorities for using him as a scapegoat in the affair. In 2005, he was appointed as a member of the
Supreme Petroleum Council. In the same year, he chaired the board of directors of IPIC and became a board member of the
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). In 2007, he was appointed chairman of the
Emirates Investment Authority, the
sovereign wealth fund of UAE. Aabar also has a 9.1% stake in
Daimler after purchasing the stake for $2.7 billion in March 2009 and it was reported that Aabar wishes to increase its stake to 15% in August 2010. He owns the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (ADMIC) which partnered with
British Sky Broadcasting to establish
Sky News Arabia – a new Arabic-language news channel headquartered in Abu Dhabi. ADMIC also owns the English-language newspaper
The National, and bought a 2.1% stake in pan-European channel
Euronews in 2017.
Sport Mansour is an accomplished horse rider who has won a number of endurance racing tournaments held in the
Middle East. He is chairman of the Emirates horse racing authority. In late 2024 he purchased the
Thoroughbred horse breeding farm,
Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard in
Neuvy-au-Houlme for €28 million. He is a patron of the annual
Zayed International Half Marathon competition in Abu Dhabi. He is chairman of the Al Jazira sports company and was a leading figure in Abu Dhabi's successful bid to host the FIFA Club World Cup in 2009 and 2010. The company owns
Al Jazira, which plays football,
volleyball,
handball, and
basketball. The football club won the
President's Cup in 2010–2011,
2011–2012 and
2015–2016.
Ownership of Manchester City In September 2008, Mansour acquired
Manchester City from former
Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. By 23 September 2008, the
Abu Dhabi United Group, backed by Mansour, completed their takeover negotiations and the ownership was transferred to them. He also owns the
City Football Group, which was founded in 2014 and consists of Manchester City,
Bahia,
Melbourne City,
New York City FC,
Mumbai City and others. Mansour has only been to two Manchester City games in his time as owner, in 2010 and 2023, the latter being the
2023 UEFA Champions League final. In 2023, a leak by
The Times confirmed that City owners made sponsorship payments of £30 million to the club in two parts in 2012 and 2013. As per an unpublished 2020
UEFA report, the payments were "disguised equity funding" and did not come from
Etisalat. A financial broker, Jaber Mohamed, assisted Sheikh Mansour and ADUG in facilitating the payments. In 2025,
The Athletic revealed that Jaber Mohamed has served as the General Director of the
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court (CPC) and was one of the two senior aides of Mohamed bin Zayed (MbZ). Another senior aide of MbZ and undersecretary at CPC, Mohamed Al Mazrouei also served at City’s board. ==Personal life==