Man City wins major legal battle against Premier League with huge ramifications

Manchester City have won a huge legal battle against the Premier League after rules relating to commercial deals between clubs and related companies were declared illegal.

City have reportedly seen two major sponsorship deals blocked due to associated party transactions (APT) rules, which were introduced following the Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle United and changed in February this year.

The reigning Premier League champions reportedly saw a major deal with UAE-based airline Etihad, which has sponsored the club's shirts since 2009, blocked last year.

It was unprecedented for a club to take legal action against the Premier League, with the panel deciding that APT rules unfairly prevented City from confirming sponsorship of Etihad, as well as a separate deal with a Abu Dhabi-based bank, which was also rejected. .

The APT rules were found to violate competition law “by object” – a damning breach.

A statement released by the Premier League champions read: “Following today's publication of the Rule their conclusions:

“The club was successful: the rules on associated party transactions (APT) were found to be unlawful and the Premier League's decisions on two specific MCFC sponsorship deals were overturned.

“The Tribunal found that the original APT Rules and the current (amended) APT Rules breached UK competition law and breached the requirements of procedural fairness.

“The Premier League was found to have abused its dominant position.

“The Tribunal determined both that the rules were structurally unfair and that the Premier League was particularly unfair in the way it applied those rules to the club in practice.

“The rules were found to be discriminatory in their operation because they deliberately excluded shareholder loans.”

Before detailing how the Premier League broke its own rules by taking too long to return a fair market value valuation of the two sponsorship deals.

The ruling could force the Premier League to abandon the APT rules altogether, with City expected to seek damages from the organization as a result.

This also opens up the possibility for other clubs to also seek damages, if they feel that the existing APT framework has also prevented them from entering into lucrative sponsorship deals.

But that's not good news for the division's 20 clubs, many of whom are vehemently opposed to any changes to the APT.

The Daily Mail reported that Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, West Ham, Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolves have all given evidence in favor of the Premier League in association with the associated party transaction rules.

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