Man City DEFEAT Premier League in legal case that is set to have massive impact on English football

Manchester City have won their legal case against the Premier League over its Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, it has been reported.

The rules are designed to prevent clubs from inflating commercial deals with companies linked to their owners.

City launched legal action against the Premier League, arguing that the APT rules were 'unlawful'.

The case is not linked to the club's hearing into their 115 alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules.

The Daily Mail's Mike Keegan reports that a panel of judges have agreed that the APT system is in fact 'unlawful', and that the league were wrong to block two sponsorship deals agreed by City.

City's legal team are said to have secured victories in seven of their key arguments, although 'many' of their claims were rejected by the panel.

They were reportedly only required to show that the rules were unlawful for one of their arguments.

Shortly after the verdict was reported, the Premier League released an official statement.

It reads: "The Premier League welcomes the Tribunal's findings, which endorsed the overall objectives, framework and decision-making of the APT system.

"The Tribunal upheld the need for the APT system as a whole and rejected the majority of Manchester City's challenges.

"Moreover, the Tribunal found that the Rules are necessary in order for the League's financial controls to be effective.

It adds: "The Tribunal did, however, identify a small number of discrete elements of the Rules which do not, in their current form, comply with competition and public law requirements. These elements can quickly and effectively be remedied by the League and clubs.

"In the meantime, the Premier League will continue to operate the existing APT system, taking into account the findings made by the Tribunal.

Key Man City board members, including owner Sheikh Mansour, pictured at the 2023 Champions League final - Getty

"More generally, except in two respects only, it found that Manchester City's arguments were unfounded, including on any alleged inconsistency in approach as between certain types of clubs.

"[The Tribunal found] That Shareholder loans should not be excluded from the scope of the APT Rules.

"By way of background, the exclusion of Shareholder loans from the Rules was a choice by the majority of clubs who wished to encourage transparent investment and 19 of them (including Manchester City) voted in favour of this approach.

"Second, that a limited number of amendments introduced to the APT Rules earlier this year should not be retained.

"The Tribunal found that the removal of the word 'evidently' from the basis on which the Board will find an apt not to be at FMV, amendments to the definition of FMV, and shifting the burden of proof to a Club to show a transaction is at FMV could, when considered together, increase the risk of an APT being reinstated when a restatement is not, in fact, warranted."

Specifically, in a section headed as 'next steps', the Premier League have detailed the changes to the system agreed by the Tribunal: "The APT Rules must now integrate the assessment of Shareholder loans and remove some of the amendments made to APT Rules earlier this year.

"Otherwise, the Premier League rulebook has been found to comply with competition and public law standards and is an effective and necessary system for assessing the FMV [Fair Market Value] of APTs to ensure the integrity of the League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

"We are conducting a process that can allow the League and clubs to enact those specific changes quickly and effectively."

You can read the full statement here, including the findings of the Tribunal.