Emirati businessman takes over German football club

ABU DHABI // Khalifa Saif Al Muhairibi, a young Emirati businessman, is set to take over SpVgg Unterhaching, the Liga 3 club in Germany.

Al Muhairibi, the chairman of Arabian Gulf Investments and Anton Schrobenhauser, the chief financial officer, announced the deal would be completed in two months after their first round of talks yesterday.

"The decision is already made and now it is a matter of completing the formalities of the take-over," said Al Muhairibi.

"We will travel to the club shortly and hopefully complete the ownership change under the Arabian Gulf Investments in two months.

"The club has a very rich history and tradition. They have also played in the Bundesliga, and our long-term objective would be to try and get them to those glory days."

Schrobenhauser says a change of the ownership will bring in new ideas and improvements to the club.

"I am extremely delighted with how things have moved about so swiftly," said the former goalkeeper in the Bundasliga.

"The club has had some success in the past and I would like to think under a new ownership they can move forward with new ideas and investments."

Unterhaching established in 1925 is located in the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich. They played in the Bundesliga alongside their more famous neighbours Bayern Munich and 1860 Munich for two seasons between 1999 and 2001.