Manchester City will argue in their Premier League appeal that the extra funding for their sponsorship deals between 2009 and 2018 came from the Abu Dhabi government and not the club's owners. An independent commission has found that City broke Premier League financial rules by disguising £830.69m of owner funding as sponsorship income. City's lawyers argued during the 2024 hearing that the funding had come from the Abu Dhabi government, but this was rejected by the commission.
In their judgement the commission "concluded that it was an explanation that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme". Manchester City is majority owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's Newton Investment and Development LLC. Sheikh Mansour is a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi and he is the vice president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. Manchester City continue to deny any wrongdoing and plan to appeal before Friday's deadline.
Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol noted problems with this line of argument: it was already dismissed by the independent commission, and the close links between the Abu Dhabi government and City's owners make the distinction complicated. City's lawyers argued that sponsors sometimes applied for financial support from the Abu Dhabi government to pay sponsorship fees, but the commission rejected this explanation.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing