The Manchester City owner Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan applauds his team onto the pitch before the UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium on June 10th 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey (Photo by Tom Jenkins/Getty Images)
The Manchester City owner Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Manchester City are expected to appeal their guilty verdict in relation to the 114 Premier League rule breaches by deploying a potentially controversial legal argument.
The club will claim that disputed sponsorship funds were paid directly by the Abu Dhabi government rather than the club's individual owners, according to The Times' Chief Sports Correspondent Matt Lawton.
The legal strategy, arguing that cash injections originated from state coffers rather than private owner funding, will reportedly form the basis of the club's official appeal following the independent commission's decision.
Manchester City to try and use political loophole
Bayern Munich fans unfurl an anti-Manchester City banner
Bayern Munich fans unfurl an anti-Manchester City banner in 2023
The argument highlights the geopolitical overlap between Premier League member clubs and their respective ownership groups.
Man City's primary owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is not solely an immensely wealthy private investor. Mansour is the vice president, deputy prime minister, and chairman of the United Arab Emirates.
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For over a decade, critics have pointed to the blurred lines between Sheikh Mansour’s private vehicle, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), and the state itself. City’s legal team reportedly intends to argue that commercial revenue from state-linked entities represented legitimate government funding rather than disguised owner equity intended to circumvent the Premier League's financial controls.
However, this political defence faces a formidable hurdle. The independent commission that delivered the initial guilty verdict has already reviewed and rejected this supporting evidence. The initial panel ruled that the financial structures were deliberately constructed to conceal owner contributions and artificially inflate commercial revenue between 2009 and 2018.
Under Premier League rules, a new independent appeal panel will be appointed to hear the case, although a different outcome to the original verdict is unlikely.
City’s lawyers are betting that this fresh panel will take a different view of the distinction between state-backed funding and private owner investment.
Should the appeal panel uphold the original commission's ruling and reject the government-funding defence for a second time, Manchester City will have exhausted their domestic legal recourse, clearing the way for unprecedented sanctions.