Manchester City Yas Residences: A Sports-Branded Community on Yas Island
Ohana Development is building the UAE's first waterfront community branded by Manchester City football club on Yas Island: around 2,000 units led by villas, a football pitch, an academy and 500,000+ sqm of green space.
Yas Island in Abu Dhabi is set to launch Manchester City Yas Residences — a joint project between developer Ohana Development and the English football club. It's billed as the world's first waterfront residential community with this kind of sports branding.
What's in the project
- About 2,000 units across several formats, with the main focus on villas.
- A youth sports academy and its own football pitch.
- Oxygen and hydrotherapy zones, and training spaces that simulate extreme climate conditions.
- A water sports centre with direct access to a canal and the sea.
- A waterfront promenade with cafes and boutiques, plus a standalone wellness centre.
- Over 55% of the site is landscaped green space, totalling more than 500,000 sqm.
Why Yas Island
Location matters more here than the branding. Yas has posted some of the strongest performance in the region in recent years: in Q3 2025, apartments were up around 30% year on year and villas around 13%. It isn't speculation — the island is steadily adding substance: the Formula 1 track, theme parks, a mall, a marina, golf.
Over the next few years the island will add the Middle East's first Disneyland, a Harry Potter-themed park, and Sphere. For housing, that means two sources of demand at once — permanent residents plus an events-driven tourist flow that supports short-term rental.
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What to understand about branded housing
A club logo adds a premium to the price per square metre, and buyers are better off pricing that premium separately. It works for as long as the brand resonates, and it's worth asking directly: how much of what you're paying is for sports branding, and how much is for waterfront square metres on a growing island.
The second point is the villa focus. For an investor, this matters more than the football pitch: the villa segment in Abu Dhabi is in short supply, and a 2,000-unit project weighted toward villas is entering the tightest part of the market.
- Watch the phasing. A project this size is built in stages; the delivery calendar for a specific phase matters more than the overall announcement.
- Check the sports facilities against running costs. The academy and the pitch are operating expenses, and part of that typically flows into community fees.
- Price it from the location. Even stripped of the branding, Yas remains one of the few places in Abu Dhabi where infrastructure is growing faster than housing.
More on the project on the Manchester City Yas Residences page. Based on official materials from Ohana Development.
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