Manchester City Wins Historic Legal Battle Against Premier League Over Sponsorship Agreements

Murad Al-Masry (Abu Dhabi)
Yesterday, Manchester City, the English club, welcomed what the English media described as a “historic decision” in its favor against the English Premier League, after the British Court of Arbitration agreed to economic measures the club regarding two sponsorship agreements.
Manchester City explained that the results of the decision claim that the club succeeded in their appeal, and according to the text of the decision that the related party transaction (APT) rules are wrong -legal, and the decisions of the English Premier League regarding two specific things. transactions to support the Manchester City club were suspended, as the court found that both the original related party transaction rules and the current “amended” related party transaction rules were in breach of competition law UK and breaching the requirements of procedural fairness.
The Premier League was also found to have abused its dominant position, so the court concluded that the rules were structurally unfair, and that the League was particularly unfair in terms of how she applied these rules in the club in practice, and the rules were found. being discriminatory in the way they operated, because they intentionally issued shareholder loans, as well as these general decisions on legality.
The court overturned special decisions issued by the English Premier League to determine the fair market value of two contracts with the club, ruling that the league had made decisions in the procedurally unfair approach.
The court also ruled that there was an unreasonable delay in the league’s assessment of the fair market value of two sponsorship deals concluded by the club, and therefore breached its own rules.