Manchester City strike first in legal battle against Premier League

Manchester City have scored their first victory in their long and complex 'war' against the Premier League. In the 'trial of the century', the Manchester club is accused of having violated the financial fair play of the English league on 115 occasions, and although this issue is still ongoing, the 'skyblues' can boast of having won another parallel case.

Various English media reported that the 'citizens' obtained a historic ruling against the Premier regarding the commercial rules that govern the clubs. The League had blocked two sponsorship agreements with the Manchester institution, a measure that an independent panel considered illegal.

City had filed an appeal against 25 regulations of the Premier League, considering that they did not respect the competition law by ruling on 25 regulations on Transactions between Associated Parties. They had also sued the League for "damages" in reference to the democratic voting system (14 out of 20 votes) and accused them of "discrimination against the Gulf owners."

The sentence is independent of the accusation of the Premier

The Court ultimately ruled in favour of the 'Citizens', and according to 'The Times' "a possible change in the law could lead to City reaching more lucrative agreements and claiming damages from the Premier League". "Other clubs could now also request damages if they consider they have been affected," he added.

Beyond all this, this case has no strictly direct relationship with the Premier League's investigation and accusation after which Manchester City was charged with more than 100 charges for financial irregularities, but it would help them to reduce them and thus reduce the possible sanction, which, a priori, would be known at the beginning of 2025, since many charges refer to the club's sponsorship agreements.

The full statement from Manchester City

"Following the publication today of the Rule X Arbitration Tribunal's award, Manchester City Football Club thanks the distinguished members of the Arbitration Tribunal for their work and consideration and welcomes their findings:

1. The Club has been successful in its claim, with Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules deemed unlawful and Premier League decisions on two specific MCFC sponsorship transactions set aside.
2. The Court concluded that both the original and current (amended) APT rules violate UK competition law and breach procedural fairness requirements.
3. The Premier League was found to have abused its dominant position.
4. The Tribunal has found that the rules are structurally unfair and that the Premier League was specifically unfair in the way it applied those rules to the Club in practice.
5. The rules were found to be discriminatory in their way of operating, because they deliberately excluded shareholder lending.
6. In addition to these general conclusions on legality, the Court set aside specific decisions of the Premier League to reaffirm the fair market value of two transactions made by the Club.
7. The court held that the Premier League had made the decisions in a procedurally unfair manner.
8. The Court also ruled that there was an unreasonable delay in the Premier League's assessment of the fair market value of two of the Club's sponsorship transactions, and the Premier League was therefore in breach of its own rules."