Inside the Right to Dream Empire: How a Global Academy Network Powers Talent, Profit and Controversy

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Simon Adingra, Mohammed Kudus and Mikkel Damsgaard have two things in common in their careers. They have all played for Premier League clubs and have played for FC Nordsjaelland. In this article, we take a closer look at the Danish club and its affiliation with the Right to Dream multi-club ownership structure. We examine the various academies and clubs, as well as their roles within the Right to Dream network owned by Sir Mohamed Mansour. Due to the growing number of players in European football (such as those mentioned above) who have come through the Right to Dream system, the structure has gained increasing prominence, particularly in (African) youth football. Furthermore, at the end of the article, we highlight the link to Manchester City, the background to this connection, and the revelations from the Football Leaks investigations.

Origins of Right to Dream: From Ghanaian Academy to Global Football Vision

First, let’s fast-forward to 1990. That was the year the first Right to Dream Academy was founded in Ghana. At the time, the aim was to establish an academy in Africa that would provide both football training and a school education for children and young people. In addition, a professional first team was established alongside the academy. The academy recruits children from across Africa and brings the selected ones to Ghana to the academy, where they are then trained together in one place. Until 2010, the training centre was based in Accra and could accommodate up to 40 children and young people. The move to Old Akrade in 2010 significantly increased capacity, and the facility now accommodates 100 players. In 2021, Right to Dream was acquired by Man Capital. Man Capital is an investment firm controlled by the Mansour family and chaired by Mohamed Mansour.

When Mansour took over Right to Dream, it marked the start of a journey to build an entire multi-club ownership system from a simple academy for African talent (you can find a detailed explanation of multi-club ownership in this article). At the same time, he and his investment firm took over the Danish first-division side FC Nordsjaelland and initiated the establishment of another academy in Egypt. In 2023, San Diego FC was founded as part of an MLS expansion and is also owned by Mansour. This means that three further academies have been added to the Right to Dream Academy, offering young talents a clear pathway to the men’s professional teams FC Nordsjaelland and San Diego FC, as well as the women’s professional team FC Masar. In total, Right to Dream now has four youth academies across three different continents. This is because the professional clubs FC Nordsjaelland and San Diego FC, with their respective youth teams, also belong to the group and train their own players. In addition, Right to Dream runs an International Programme, which selects the most talented 16-year-olds from the four academies and prepares them, through a two-year programme, to make their debut at a professional club and to focus even more intently on a career in professional football. Right to Dream thus pursues two objectives in the development of young football talent. The original idea was to engage in social work by taking young African talents from difficult social backgrounds and, through education and football training, giving them the opportunity for a better future. The second objective is to train future professional footballers so that they can be deployed in professional teams and sold to other clubs at a substantial profit, thereby maximising the profit from the trained players.

Why FC Nordsjaelland Became the Strategic Hub of the Right to Dream Model

The most popular and strongest partnership to date is between the founding academy in Ghana and FC Nordsjaelland. The club plays a central role in the development strategy. FC Nordsjaelland was the first professional club to join Right to Dream. The reason a Danish team was chosen for this is the simplified naturalisation process for non-EU citizens. In Denmark and Sweden, those with a valid employment contract do not require a residence permit, which significantly simplifies the process of signing African players from the club’s own academy. The path for these talented players is therefore clearly mapped out. They join the academy in Old Akrade as young players (aged 11–16), then enter the International Programme for two years, before being integrated into FC Nordsjaelland’s first team. There, they make their debut and gain playing time at a high level in the Danish top flight, as well as regularly in international competitions such as the UEFA Conference League or the UEFA Europa League, whose prize money payouts we have analysed in the following article. If these players then perform well, they are sold to other clubs for as much money as possible.

However, it is not only the pathway from other academies into FCN’s first team that proves effective. The club’s own academy also consistently produces exciting young talents who can even be fielded as young as 16. Examples of this include Mikkel Damsgaard, mentioned earlier, and Conrad Harder, who currently plays for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. If we look at the transfer history since Mansour’s takeover, the strength of the club’s own academy becomes particularly clear. Between the 2020/21 and 2025/26 seasons, a total of 41 players were promoted from the club’s own U19s to the first team. In second place is the Right to Dream Academy with 10 players. Of all the other clubs from which players were signed, only one or two players were purchased during this period. Among the players from the club’s own youth system was Andreas Schjelderup, who was sold to Benfica for €11.5 million. Here, Nordsjaelland’s system becomes clear once again. Players are brought into the first team at an early stage so that they can develop to a professional level as quickly as possible and be sold to bigger clubs for as much money as possible. In total, FC Nordsjaelland has thus generated approximately €200 million over the last five years without having to pay large transfer fees for the players sold. This makes the club a highly profitable one and explains its approach and investment strategy.

San Diego FC’s Role in the Multi‑Club Network: Growth Market, MLS Strategy and Long‑Term Value

San Diego FC, on the other hand, operates quite differently. In its short history, the club has recorded a transfer deficit of €23.6 million. The club is therefore pursuing a very different strategy as part of the Multi Club Ownership group. Although the club is part of Right to Dream and has three alumni in its own squad – Marcus Ingvartsen, Emmanuel Boateng and Willy Kumado – it is immediately clear when compared to FC Nordsjaelland that San Diego is more interested in achieving sporting success in the MLS than in serving as a training ground. This becomes even clearer when comparing the average age of the respective squads. At 22.7 years, the Nordsjaelland squad is almost three years younger than that of San Diego FC, which averages 25.4. Nevertheless, there are several reasons why San Diego FC is part of Right to Dream. Firstly, it represents another opportunity for talents from the academy who may wish to take the next step after FC Nordsjaelland. Furthermore, the structure provides the club with a presence on another continent, complete with its own academy where further talent (including for Nordsjaelland) can be developed. The biggest and most important point, however, is likely to be that owning an MLS franchise is likely to be a profitable long-term venture. Mansour and his investment group invested a total of $500 million as an expansion fee, which was paid to the MLS. A further $150 million was also invested in infrastructure. In the long term, the club is expected to generate profits for Mansour through ongoing revenue and an increase in value. So whilst he generates profits from the Right to Dream academies and player sales from FC Nordsjaelland, San Diego FC is banking on the growth of the MLS as a whole, coupled with an increase in the club’s value.

Manchester City, Football Leaks and the Hidden Agreements Behind Right to Dream

However, there is also a link to Manchester City in the history of Right to Dream. This came to light as part of the Football Leaks revelations, which were brought to light by Rui Pinto and a group of journalists associated with *Der Spiegel*.

If you want to dive deeper into the investigations behind Football Leaks and understand how hidden contracts, offshore structures and secret agreements shaped modern football, the book Football Leaks: Uncovering the Dirty Deals Behind the Beautiful Game offers a detailed and well‑researched look into the scandals that transformed the sport.

The Football Leaks revelations state that Manchester City pays Right to Dream one million pounds every year so that the organisation can scout for talent in West Africa on behalf of the Citizens and train them at their academy. Although Manchester City does not receive any direct rights to the players in return for the payments, Right to Dream is expected to ensure that their most talented players move to the Sky Blues. Due to City’s high-profile squad, the players’ market value automatically increases as a result of the move. Without the players ever making an appearance for Man City, they are then sold on to other clubs at a profit. According to documents from Football Leaks, Manchester City is said to achieve a return of approximately 24% from this arrangement. At the time of publication, FC Nordsjaelland was already part of Right to Dream and also had a contractual relationship with City (in another article about SCR and SSR you can learn why this is important for the Skyblues).The Danes were obliged to pass on 25% of the transfer fees from academy players to Manchester City and were also only permitted to sell players with the English club’s permission. These are highly problematic structures and contractual arrangements, as they put young players under pressure to commit to Manchester City or another partner club upon completing the academy, thereby boosting the club’s profits. Sports scientist Earnest Acheampong comments in Football Leaks that this constitutes a form of exploitative practice and a kind of slavery. It is doubtful whether these business relationships and contracts have continued since Mohamed Mansour’s takeover, as no transfers have been recorded between Right to Dream or FC Nordsjaelland and Manchester City since he took over.