Man City owners buy stake in Spanish La Liga club Girona

Pep Guardiola took his Manchester City squad to Girona for a friendly earlier this month

Manchester City's parent company and a group owned by Pep Guardiola's brother have each bought an equal majority stake in Spanish La Liga club Girona.

The Catalan club were promoted to the top flight for the first time in their 87-year history last season.

The City Football Group owns clubs in Australia, Japan, the US and Uruguay.

CFG, formed when Sheikh Mansour bought City in 2008, and the Girona Football Group - owned by Pere Guardiola - have bought a 44.3% stake in Girona.

The rest of the shares will be owned by a fans' association.

"The new owners aim to maintain, strengthen and grow Girona to become a consolidated club in the Primera Division," said a Girona statement.

"The operation will allow Girona to benefit from the knowledge and proven experience of the City Football Group, as well as its extensive network of infrastructures, technical teams, attracting talent, developing young players and executive leadership."

Girona had five on-loan Manchester City players in their squad for the 2-2 home draw against Atletico Madrid in their La Liga debut.

CFG owns Major League Soccer outfit New York City, A League side Melbourne City, J League club Yokohama F Marinos and Uruguayan club Atletico Torque.