Man City secure significant victory in legal battle with Premier League

Manchester City appear to have secured victory in their legal challenge against the Premier League’s associated party transaction rules. The case is unrelated to the ongoing probe into the 115 charges of alleged rule breaches facing the Premier League champions.

Associated party transaction rules were introduced by the Premier League following Newcastle’s takeover by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The aim was to protect competitive integrity by stopping clubs from artificially inflating commercial deals with companies linked to their owners.

City argued the rules discriminated against their ownership by the Abu Dhabi United Group, an investment company for the royal family of Abu Dhabi. Earlier this year, they issued a 165-page claim against the Premier League with a two-week hearing taking place in June.

A vote on amending those rules was dropped from a meeting between Premier League club shareholders on Thursday, indicating that City’s legal challenge was successful.

City were seeking financial damages for the ‘losses which it has incurred as a result of the unlawfulness of the FMV [fair market value] rules’. In their claim, they argued the rules were ‘deliberately intended to stifle commercial freedoms of particular clubs in particular circumstances, and thus to restrict economic competition’.

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