Eye for an Eye No More, Manchester City and Premier League Call Truce Over Commercial Deal Rules Manchester City and the Premier League have finally decided to sing from the same hymn sheet, settling their long-running dispute over the rules governing commercial agreements.
Both parties have agreed to drop legal proceedings, with City accepting that the Premier League’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules are valid and binding.
In a joint statement, the club and the league announced, Neither the Premier League nor the club will be making any further comment on the matter.
Manchester City are still waiting for the outcome of a major disciplinary case after being charged with over 100 alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules , all of which the club denies.
The charges relate to strict APT rules, which aim to stop clubs from making inflated profits through sponsorship deals with companies linked to their owners.
Last year, City challenged these rules in court and partially won. Then, in November 2024, the majority of Premier League clubs voted to strengthen the APT regulations, despite strong opposition from City.
Explaining in detail why Manchester City challenged the Premier League’s rules, Sky Sports Senior Reporter had this to say,” This is very significant because the Premier League and Manchester City were at loggerheads over this whole issue. Manchester City had challenged the rules legally, we hadn’t seen this before.
“It all started back in 2023. Manchester City wanted to do a new sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways and First Abu Dhabi Bank. They submitted these proposed deals to the Premier League to make sure that they complied with the APT rules and the deals were blocked by the league.
“City challenged the legality of these rules, they didn’t accept that these deals should be blocked. And last September, an independent panel found that some key elements of the APT rules were unlawful. It was back-page news that it had been proven that some of the Premier League’s own rules were unlawful.
“What the Premier League did is say, ‘This doesn’t mean that all the rules are unlawful, just some key elements of them and we will amend those rules quickly to make sure that they are lawful’.
