Only 4 votes against
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Premier League clubs have agreed at a meeting to introduce new, stricter sponsorship rules. The “Associated Party Transactions” (APT), introduced in 2021, will then assess whether commercial agreements between clubs and companies that have connections to the respective club owners were concluded at normal market conditions. Manchester City had tried vehemently to block the rule changes.
The English champions are owned by City Football Group (CFG), a holding company controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family. Sheikh Mansour is the group’s main investor and founder.
Sponsorship rules: Partial success for Man City in October
The changes take into account the decision of an arbitration tribunal that previously made adjustments to the APT partially violated British competition law. Man City challenged the rules and achieved partial success in October. However, the vote that has now been made is a bitter setback for the club coached by Pep Guardiola.
16 Premier League clubs voted in favor of the stricter sponsorship rules, which are intended to ensure a competitive balance in the league and prevent artificially inflated contract values. In addition to Man City, Newcastle United, controlled by Saudi Arabia, as well as Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest also voted against it.
The result is considered a success for Premier League managing director Richard Masters, who has been at loggerheads with Man City for years. A loss would have thrown the rules into question and plunged the league into legal chaos. The Premier League is currently investigating 115 financial breaches against City, which denies the allegations. A decision is expected early next year.
Should there be a forced relegation, Guardiola announced that he would remain coach of the Citizens, he recently said: “I will be here. We’ll be promoted again next year. I don’t know where they would send us but we would be promoted and promoted until we were back in the Premier League.”
