Manchester City defeats the Premier League in a legal battle

Manchester City have confirmed their victory over the Premier League body as it concerns the Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules.

The Premier League Champions confirmed the news on its official website on Monday, October 7, 2024. Manchester City took the Premier League to court to challenge the APT rules, which relate to commercial deals between clubs and were introduced following Saudi Arabia’s takeover of Newcastle United.

The regulations were imposed following the incident from the Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle United and were designed to maintain the competitiveness of the Premier League and stop clubs from inflating commercial deals with businesses associated with their owners.

What did Manchester City say about ruling against the Premier League?

Following today’s publication of the Rule X Arbitral Tribunal Award, Manchester City Football Club thanks the distinguished members of the Arbitral Tribunal for their work and considerations and welcomes their findings. The Club has succeeded with its claim: the Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules have been found to be unlawful and the Premier League’s decisions on two specific MCFC sponsorship transactions have been set aside. The Tribunal found that both the original APT rules and the current, (amended) APT Rules violate UK competition law and violate the requirements of procedural fairness. Premier League was found 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. The rules were found to be discriminatory in how they operate because they deliberately excluded shareholder loans. As well as these general findings on legality, the Tribunal has set aside specific decisions of the Premier League to restate the fair market value of two transactions entered into by the Club. The tribunal held that the Premier League had reached the decisions in a procedurally unfair manner. The Tribunal also ruled that there was an unreasonable delay in the Premier League’s fair market value assessment of two of the Club’s sponsorship transactions, and so the Premier League breached its own rules.”

However following the victory of the ATP case, the Cityzens will now seek damages from the Premier League for lost income since the new rules were introduced. This decision will also impact how Premier League clubs can secure sponsorship deals.