Manchester City’s case against the Premier League will extend to an appeal process as the club will contest the ‘sham’ contracts verdict with attempted proof that this was from government grants.
Manchester City will use its “irrefutable evidence” of bank statements, emails and letters in its appeal against the independent commission’s guilty verdict of breaching 114 of the Premier League’s financial regulations.
The Telegraph revealed recently that the club’s legal team will look to provide evidence that the commission made “fundamental errors” during the investigation process and that its evidence relating to sponsorship funding from the Abu Dhabi government was overlooked.
Manchester City is claiming that its evidence of bank statements, emails and letters during the initial investigation proves that this was in compliance with the Premier League’s financial rules and were not “sham” contracts that are believed to have artificially inflated the club’s sponsorship revenue by up to £830m.
The independent commission found that the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) – the controlling owner of the club’s majority owner, City Football Group – inflated these sponsorship deals.
The club is arguing that the three sponsors which the commission found to have been inflated – Aabar Investments, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, and Etisalat – are backed by government grants, as they are owned by the Abu Dhabi government.
Manchester City will also use the same 24 witnesses’ testimonies used in the initial commission’s investigation to prove to the appeals board that the commission overlooked this evidence.
The club did lodge the evidence during the investigation, but the commission dismissed the explanation of government-funded sponsorships as “untrue”.
“We concluded that it was an ‘explanation’ that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme,” said the commission’s final report in its 40-page findings.
But Manchester City will contest the Premier League’s evidence, which it believes solely relies on leaked emails from whistleblower Rui Pinto, as well as having no direct witnesses to support its claims.
The appeal process
Manchester City lodged its appeal against the guilty verdict on 1 October, one day before the 2 October deadline.
Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City, said after the Premier League’s ‘sham’ statement on 29 September is “based on a single false accusation – that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi”.
“This is just not true,” added Soriano. “Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses, and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner.”
An appeal process following a verdict from the Premier League’s process for arbitration and judicial proceedings typically takes up to 12 weeks to complete.
This means that Manchester City’s appeal could end mid-to-late January 2027.
According to the Premier League’s rulebook, an appeals board of three members is selected by the Chair of the Judicial Panel and has the power to uphold a decision, consult with the original commission panel to question a re-trial or overturn certain decisions in respect to what a club is appealing.
If Manchester City’s appeal fails and the independent commission’s verdict is upheld, the club can, under the Arbitration Act 1996, file a case in the UK High Court
on any or all of Sections 67, 68, and 69. The UK High Court does not act as an appeals court to retry the case.
