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14th February 2025
06:06pm GMT
The Premier League has been dealt a huge blow in its legal battle against Manchester City, with sponsorship rules enforced between the years of 2021 and 2024 declared null and void.
In a major verdict, this could potentially trigger a variety of compensation claims, after an independent panel has sided with the league's reigning champions - as per Mail Sport.
It has been deemed that the league's Association Party Transaction (APT) regulations, which have operated from December 2021 to November 2024, were in fact unlawful.
City's proposed deals with Etihad Airways and First Abu Dhabi Bank were blocked in 2023 - leading to City taking the league to court.
The regulations, issued in December 2021, following the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United, were introduced with aim to maintain competitiveness of the top-flight, through prevention of clubs inflating commercial deals with companies directly linked with club owners.
The tribunal, headed by three senior legal figures, held a further two-day hearing last month, in order to discuss whether the rules were still valid in their entirety, concluding that they were "void and unenforceable".
Clubs could now seek compensation for deals 'undervalued' between the time of December 2021 and November 2024.
The Premier League is now facing legal costs over £10million.
The conclusion of the 18-page award, as per The Times, states: “In the first partial final award it was declared that the APT rules and amended APT rules were unlawful in three respects.
“There now arises for decision the question whether those three respects can be severed from the remaining APT rules so that those remaining APT rules are valid and enforceable.
“The three respects in which the APT rules and amended APT rules were unlawful cannot be severed with the result that the APT rules as a whole are void and unenforceable.”
