Manchester City and Premier League end dispute over sponsor rules

Manchester City and the Premier League have reached a settlement in their dispute over the rules governing commercial deals. (AFP)
Manchester City and the Premier League have reached a settlement in their dispute over the rules governing commercial deals. (AFP)
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Updated 08 September 2025

Manchester City and Premier League end dispute over sponsor rules

Manchester City and Premier League end dispute over sponsor rules
  • City have accepted that the current rules for ‘associated party transactions’ are “valid and binding”

LONDON: Manchester City and the Premier League have reached a settlement in their dispute over the rules governing commercial deals.

City have accepted that the current rules for ‘associated party transactions’ are “valid and binding.”

The Etihad Stadium club had launched arbitration proceedings on January 20 against the current rules, which are designed to ensure that deals between teams and entities linked to their ownership are done at fair market value.

City’s challenge was understood to have included criticism of the way the Premier League treated shareholder loans under the rules.

The league and City have agreed to make no further comment on the matter.

The APT rules were originally introduced in December 2021, following the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle earlier that year.

Those rules were successfully challenged by City last year, with a tribunal finding them unlawful on multiple grounds, including the fact they excluded shareholder loans from fair market value assessments.

That led to the Premier League consulting with clubs on amendments to the rules, with 16 teams voting in favor of the amended rules at a meeting last November.

City’s acceptance that the amended rules are valid and binding appears to put to bed an issue which had threatened to have a major impact on the league if the rules had been significantly weakened.

Without APT rules, entities linked to clubs’ owners could potentially overvalue sponsorships and other commercial transactions to boost a club’s revenue, putting that club in a stronger position under the league’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) and therefore given more leeway to spend on transfer fees and player wages.

An assessment of shareholder loans for fair market value was incorporated into the APT rules last November, but the rules do not apply retrospectively.

Instead, the fair market assessment only applies to ongoing and future loans.

City and the Premier League still await the outcome of an independent commission hearing which was examining more than 100 charges against the club for alleged breaches of the league’s financial rules, charges City strenuously deny.

The hearing took place between September and December last year, after City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023.


Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge
Updated 59 min 57 sec ago

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge

Battling Barcelona earn 3-3 draw in thriller against Brugge
  • Barcelona found their equalizer in the 77th minute when Yamal lifted a cross into the box and defender Seys headed the ball into his own net when trying to clear

BRUGES, Belgium: Barcelona fought back three times to snatch a 3-3 draw at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday, equalising for the final time late in the game with an own goal from 20-year-old Belgium defender Joaquin Seys.
Barcelona are now 11th in the standings on seven points from four matches while Club Brugge sit 22nd on four points, with both teams still in the hunt for qualification.
In a thriller at Brugge’s Jan Breydel Stadium, the home side opened the scoring through Nicolo Tresoldi in the sixth minute, after a quick counter by Carlos Forbs that exposed the vulnerability of Barcelona’s high defense.
The 21-year-old jet-heeled Portuguese forward controlled a long ball in his stride to beat the offside trap up the right channel before bursting into the box and crossing low for Tresoldi to score with a tidy finish past the goalkeeper.
Barcelona hit right back with Ferran Torres from close range two minutes later but Brugge regained the lead in the 17th minute with Forbs scoring after another quick counter.
In an end-to-end encounter with both sides creating several chances, Jules Kounde struck the crossbar in the 27th minute as Barcelona tried to find the equalizer, while Ferran Torres missed from close range right before the break.

FRANTIC FINALE
Barcelona keeper Wojciech Szczesny made a stunning save early in the second half when Seys entered the penalty box in a counter-attack and struck a bullet shot from close range that the veteran Polish keeper blocked away brilliantly.
Barca defender Eric Garcia almost scored in the 59th minute with a thunderous strike from long range that exploded off the crossbar but it was teenager Lamine Yamal who scored a brilliant individual goal one minute later to level the match again. However, it took Club Brugge only two minutes to get back the lead, with Forbs scoring from another counter-attack, beating Barcelona’s high defense again for the umpteenth time before chipping a tidy finish round Szczesny into the net.
Barcelona found their equalizer in the 77th minute when Yamal lifted a cross into the box and defender Seys headed the ball into his own net when trying to clear.
There was more drama as Brugge thought they had scored the winner in added time through Romeo Vermant, thanks to what looked to have been a massive blunder by Szczesny. But the VAR video review ruled out the goal as the forward fouled the keeper in his effort to recover the ball, helping Barca rescue a point.
“They have created a lot of danger on the counter-attack and we should have done much better everywhere,” a visibly frustrated Ferran Torres told Movistar Plus.
“It seemed like that with two passes they were already in our box. We have to find ways to improve. The team reacted well, we had a lot of chances. But when you’re behind... It’s tough.”