English soccer's top-tier Premier League (EPL) has had the entirety of its 2021-24 regulations around Associated Party Transactions (APT) declared null and void by a tribunal.
This comes as a substantial loss of face for the EPL, and comes after an initial ruling (issued last October) that three distinct elements of APT rules were unlawful, on the back of an appeal by league champions Manchester City. Now, however, the entire construct of the APT rules which ran between December 2021 and November 2024 has been declared “void and unenforceable” by an independent tribunal.
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Following the initial verdict in late 2024, which identified the three separate issues, both Manchester City (who are also waiting on a verdict on 130 charges brought against them by the EPL for allegedly breaking financial rules) – and the league asked for greater clarification on how changing these aspects would affect the rules in general.
Now, the tribunal has provided an answer – it has said that “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.”
APTs, financial and commercial moves made by clubs that involve a party already associated with the club’s ownership, are regulated by the league to prevent the over-inflation of deal values for financial purposes and to maintain a competitive balance in the league. These rules in their current format were introduced in late 2021, directly following the takeover of Newcastle United by a group backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
In response to the interim rules (unaffected by this judgment) brought out by the league late last year, as a response to City's initial legal success, the Manchester club has once more issued a challenge (also due to be resolved this month), arguing that even the reworked regulations are unlawful.
Those interim regulations were voted through by 16 of the 20 EPL teams, with four – Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, and City – voting against.
Manchester City’s primary sponsor is Etihad, the airline flag carrier of the UAE. The club is majority-owned by Abu Dhabi United Group, a private equity group from the emirate, headed by UAE vice president and royal family member Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed.
Any EPL team that had an APT deal rejected across the 2021-24 cycle could potentially launch a damages claim against the league. This could bring about huge legal bills for the league – and therefore, for the 20 clubs as well.
In response to this new ruling, the league has said: “This decision expressly does not impact the valid operation of the new rules.
"The tribunal has made no findings as to the validity and effectiveness of the new rules. The tribunal states that whether its decision has any benefit to the club, therefore, depends on whether the new APT rules are found to be lawful as part of the second challenge issued by the club last month.
“The league continues to believe that the new APT rules are valid and enforceable and is pressing for an expeditious resolution of this matter The new APT rules are in full force and clubs remain required to comply with all aspects of the system.”
