On Monday, Manchester City achieved a partial victory over the Premier League following an arbitration panel ruling regarding the club’s alleged violations of the English league’s rules on Associated Party Transactions (APT). The Premier League presented the panel’s redacted 165-page ruling as an endorsement of the overall objectives and decision-making of the APT system, despite some commentators viewing it as a significant verdict.
The panel found that certain parts of the Premier League’s APT rules violated British competition law and were also deemed unlawful because clubs were not given the opportunity to provide input on the types of data the league would consider. The panel ruled that the Premier League’s decision regarding two transactions in 2023, involving First Abu Dhabi Bank and the Etihad Aviation Group, was made in an unfair manner and must be reversed. The APT rules were intended to uphold the competitiveness of the Premier League by preventing clubs from artificially inflating the value of sponsorship deals with companies connected to their owners.
City said in a statement that they had succeeded with their claim and the Premier League was found, among other things, to have abused its dominant position.
“The Tribunal has determined both that the rules are structurally unfair and that the Premier League was specifically unfair in how it applied those rules to the Club in practice,” City added.
“The rules were found to be discriminatory in how they operate, because they deliberately excluded shareholder loans.”
The Premier League said the majority of City’s challenges had been rejected.
“Moreover, the Tribunal found that the rules are necessary in order for the League’s financial controls to be effective,” it added in a statement.
SEPARATE HEARING
Reigning champions City are also involved in a separate independent hearing into the club’s alleged breaches of Premier League financial regulations which began in September, with a verdict expected some time before the end of the current season.
The club have won eight Premier League titles, the Champions League, three FA Cups, six League Cups, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup since being bought by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.
The Premier League implemented a temporary ban on clubs being sponsored by companies connected to their owners after the sale of Newcastle United to a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2021. The regulations were revised in March after consulting with Premier League clubs and were approved by the FA.
According to the rules, every APT must be submitted to the Premier League Board, which will conduct a Fair Market Value Assessment. The ruling indicated that rival clubs Chelsea, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, and Everton acted as witnesses for City in the arbitration process. On the other hand, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton & Hove Albion, and West Ham United were witnesses for the Premier League.
