Manchester City FC Ownership & Sponsorship Deals
United Arab Emirates
2008 (Abu Dhabi Takeover) – 2025 (£1.75 Billion Etihad Deal)
The Mechanism
In 2008, the Abu Dhabi United Group, a private equity firm controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a senior UAE royal, purchased Manchester City FC. The acquisition was a landmark sportswashing event, designed to embed the UAE into the social and economic fabric of the UK and project a "friendly" image of the regime.
The strategy hinges on one key mechanism: using inflated sponsorship deals from other state-owned entities (like Etihad Airways) to inject unlimited state funds into the club. This allows the team to dominate European football while simultaneously appearing to comply with financial fair play regulations.
Documented Evidence of Abuse
Their Freedom analysed documentations of how the club's financial strategy directly contradicts the Premier League's own rules and provides a smokescreen for the UAE's human rights abuses:
In February 2023, the Premier League charged Manchester City with 115 separate breaches of financial rules, including allegations of disguised payments and non-cooperation with investigations. The charges cover a nine-year period (2009-2018) and represent the most significant financial misconduct case in English football history.
Instead of facing sanctions, Manchester City successfully challenged the Premier League's "Associated Party Transaction" (APT) rules. In September 2025, an arbitration panel sided with the club, paving the way for a new, record-breaking £1.75 billion sponsorship deal with state-owned Etihad Airways. This effectively legalizes the mechanism of state-funded sportswashing.
While Manchester City fans celebrate their financial dominance, the regime that funds them continues to imprison dissidents. Activist Ahmed Mansoor remains in prison after being sentenced to 10 years for "insulting the status and prestige of the UAE" online. He has spent years in solitary confinement, yet his case is never mentioned in the club's official media.
The Premier League and UEFA have proven incapable of policing their own rules against state-owned clubs. Despite 115 charges, Manchester City has faced no meaningful sanctions. Meanwhile, the UK government and Manchester City officials have consistently refused to criticize the UAE, citing the economic benefits of the investment.
Manchester City is no longer just football club, but rather, a geopolitical asset. The UAE's strategy has been to co-opt and dismantle the very rules designed to ensure a level playing field. By transforming what should be commercial sponsorship into a channel for unlimited state funding, the UAE has purchased sporting success in addition to the silence of an entire city and the complicity of global football authorities. The club's trophies are a monument to structural impunity.