Etihad statement and whistleblower threats cast shadow over Man City's 115-charge appeal

Manchester City’s appeal against an independent commission’s guilty verdict on Premier League financial charges is facing serious complications, with a sworn statement from principal sponsor Etihad Airways appearing to undermine the club’s core defence argument — and the hacker who exposed the club’s internal documents claiming he has gone into hiding after receiving death threats.

The independent commission found City guilty of operating a scheme to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by nearly £1 billion across nine seasons, ruling against the club on every count of breaching financial regulations between 2009-10 and 2017-18. The commission concluded that City used “sham” commercial deals to disguise owner funding and arrangements to reduce operating costs covering coaching staff and player wages. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters described the outcome as “the most significant in Premier League history”.

At the heart of City’s appeal, according to PA, will be a claim that government funding channelled through the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court provided financial assistance to emirate-based sponsors — including Etihad — to help them meet their obligations to the club, rather than to Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group, which owns City.

That argument appears to collide directly with evidence Etihad submitted to a 2015 US Department of Commerce, Transportation and State investigation into state-owned airlines. Documents from that hearing record Etihad stating: “The assertion that the Abu Dhabi government paid for Etihad’s sponsorship of English Premier League football club Manchester City is false. In 2011, Etihad and Manchester City entered into a 10-year sponsorship agreement, which included naming rights for Manchester City’s stadium. Etihad funded this sponsorship from its own liquidity. We are and have always been clear that we do not receive any subsidies from the Abu Dhabi government.”

If City’s appeal rests on the claim that Etihad’s payments were effectively government-routed, the airline’s own sworn testimony to a US federal body presents a direct and potentially damaging contradiction.

Separately, Rui Pinto — the hacker whose breach of City’s internal accounts provided much of the documentary evidence underpinning the original charges — says he is now fearing for his life. In a post on X, Pinto stated that just hours after the guilty verdict was published he began receiving death threats, and indicated he had taken steps to protect himself as a result.

The same independent commission that delivered the guilty verdict will convene a separate hearing to determine sanctions, should City’s appeal fail. Given the commission’s finding that the club “clearly intended to circumvent Premier League rules”, those sanctions are widely expected to be severe.