UAE AIRLINE ETIHAD, Manchester City’s main sponsor, has said it is considering legal action against the Premier League after the bombshell ruling against the English football giant over financial rule breaches.

It was announced this week that the Abu Dhabi-backed club was found guilty of more than 100 breaches of financial rules in the world’s richest domestic league.

An independent commission found the Abu Dhabi-backed club arranged “sham” contracts with a number of commercial partners to artificially inflate its revenues and reduce costs by more than £900 million between 2009 and 2018.

In that time, City won the Premier League title three times and also lifted one FA Cup and three League Cups.

“Etihad categorically rejects any finding, conclusion or implication that suggests the airline has ever been involved in improper commercial arrangements,” an Etihad spokesperson said in a statement.

The airline, which is the club’s main shirt sponsor and has the naming rights to the club’s stadium, said that it was “deeply concerned” by how the matter was communicated to the public.

“The Premier League’s public communication of the Commission’s findings, following a period of selective leaks and reporting, has further created damaging implications for Etihad despite the airline not being named in the redacted published findings,” the spokesperson said.

“Etihad will seek the relevant legal counsel on the options and recourse available to protect its interests.”

The likely punishment is uncertain but, according to Premier League rules, City could face a substantial points deduction, a fine or even expulsion from the top division.

The 10-time English champions, who continue to deny any wrongdoing, have vowed to appeal and have until Friday to do so.

City’s lawyers are set to present evidence that an Abu Dhabi government body – rather than owner Sheikh Mansour – provided funding to sponsors.

At the heart of the club’s appeal will be an insistence that government funding, provided via the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court (CPC), gave financial assistance to sponsors in the emirate to help them to fulfil their liabilities to City, rather than Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group company, which owns the club.

The CPC is an independent government entity which supports socially driven initiatives and provides financial and other types of support to businesses. 

City chief executive Ferran Soriano said in an address to staff which emerged soon after the Premier League published the commission’s decision on Tuesday: “The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation – that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true.

“Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows that it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner.”

The 40-page core decision published on Tuesday shows the independent commission rejected the CPC explanation as “untrue” in its findings, adding: “We concluded that it was an ‘explanation’ that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the disguised funding scheme.”

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters described the disciplinary case and the decision by an independent commission as the “most significant in Premier League history”.

He said City “systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade” and said the league was committed to a swift resolution.

- Additional reporting by Press Association.

– © AFP 2026