June 5 – English champions Manchester City have launched legal action against the Premier League ahead of their hearing over 115 charges of breaching financial rules.
The Times reports that City are questioning the legality of the league’s associated party transaction (APT) rules, which determine whether sponsorship deals are financially ‘fair’.
City claim the rules are “unlawful” and want to seek damages for revenue lost by preventions made by those rules.
Introduced after acquisition of Newcastle United by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the rules assess commercial and sponsorship deals with companies owned or associated with the same club’s owners. Earlier this year, the clubs voted to toughen rules on associated party transactions.
City believe the rules were introduced to thwart their success and call it “a tyranny of the majority”.
The legal dispute and question of whether the ATP rules are compatible with UK competition law will be settled during a two-week arbitration hearing beginning on June 10.
The club have a Premier League hearing on the 115 charges now set for November.
Last month, City won the Premier League crown for the fourth time in a row, becoming the first English club to do so.
Under manager Pep Guardiola and the Abu Dhabi ownership, the fortunes of the club have been transformed. The team have become the dominant force of the domestic game on the pitch, but a cloud hangs over their success.
The club is under investigation for breaching the league’s financial regulations over a nine-year period, starting in 2009 and ending in 2018. City face no less than 115 charges, including breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) and not fully cooperating with the investigation. City have always denied any wrongdoing.
In 2020, UEFA banned Man City from European competitions for alleged breaches of financial fair play (FFP) regulations. However, that ban was turned over on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later that year.
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