Etihad Airways Weighs Legal Action Against the Premier League as Manchester City File Appeal Over Sham-Sponsorship Verdict

Etihad Airways Weighs Legal Action Against the Premier League as Manchester City File Appeal

Manchester City's principal sponsor, Etihad Airways, has said it is considering legal action against the Premier League over the way the independent commission's guilty verdict against the club was communicated, naming the league's public handling of the findings as the source of "damaging implications" for the airline even though Etihad was not named in the redacted published decision. The warning, delivered in a statement reported by Sky Sports, BBC Sport and ESPN, landed hours after City confirmed they had lodged their appeal against the verdict — and it opens a second front in the biggest governance crisis English football has faced.

An independent commission found City guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules, concluding that between 2009 and 2018 the club disguised £830 million of owner funding as sponsorship income through what the commission described as "sham" contracts with commercial partners. Etihad, the Abu Dhabi state airline that has sponsored City since 2009 and gives its name to the club's stadium, was ruled to be at the centre of the arrangement described in the commission's findings on the Disguised Funding Scheme.

Etihad categorically rejects any finding, conclusion or implication that suggests the airline has ever been involved in improper commercial arrangements.— Etihad Airways statement, reported by Sky Sports and BBC Sport, 30 September–1 October 2026

In its statement, reviewed by BBC Sport, the airline said that at no point did the Premier League reach out to or engage with Etihad during the process, and that it was never given the opportunity to be represented or to provide relevant information. "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 statement read, before adding that Etihad "will seek the relevant legal counsel on the options and recourse available to protect its interests." The Premier League declined to comment when contacted by BBC Sport.

City, for their part, confirmed their appeal ahead of the 2 October deadline, and the club continue to deny any wrongdoing, with chief executive Ferran Soriano calling the process a "Premier League conspiracy theory" in a message to players and staff. Sky Sports News understands the appeal will argue that the extra funding for the sponsorship deals came from the Abu Dhabi government rather than the club's majority owners, Abu Dhabi United Group — a strategy complicated by a 2015 statement Etihad itself submitted to the US government, in which the airline insisted its sponsorship obligations to City were paid "out of Etihad's own funds".

The sponsorship money at the heart of the case is substantial. The commission found that sponsors in Abu Dhabi paid only £119.25 million of the £949.94 million stated in club accounts across the relevant period, with the remaining £830.69 million paid by Abu Dhabi United Group. Per Premier League rules, the appeal lodged on Thursday evening must be resolved within 12 weeks, taking the process into the week before Christmas. Sanctions from the original hearing remain undecided.

Etihad's intervention is more than a public-relations gesture. A named sponsor threatening litigation against the competition itself — rather than against the sanctioned club — is without precedent in Premier League history, and it puts the league's regulatory credibility on trial alongside City's finances. With rivals holding reserved compensation rights, a second sponsor, Asahi Group, issuing statements acknowledging the findings, and Westminster already probing the tax implications of the verdict, the league now faces legal exposure from the airlines' corner as well as from the appeals panel.

Whatever the appeal decides, the commercial lesson is already written: the Premier League's biggest-ever regulatory case has not only damaged the sanctioned club's standing, it has dragged the sponsor whose name sits on the stadium into open conflict with the competition. How the league manages Etihad's threatened recourse may matter nearly as much as the sanction it ultimately hands down. Reported by Ines Kovač, OneLightScore business desk, from statements carried by Sky Sports, BBC Sport and ESPN.