Man City, PSG clash at contrasting time for state-backed projects

PSG strived to follow City’s era of sustained success and are now firmly established as Europe’s top dogs after successive Champions League titles to go along with their domination of French football. Abu Dhabi-backed City won the race against Qatar-owned PSG to become European champions first in 2023.

The triumph over Inter Milan in Istanbul that completed a treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup was the pinnacle of City’s rise since a 2008 takeover fronted by Sheikh Mansour, the vice-president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.

But a cloud now hangs over City’s haul of silverware from the past 15 years unless they can overturn the findings of an independent commission on appeal. City were found to have used “sham” commercial deals with Emirati companies to inflate revenue and reduce costs to the tune of over 900 million ($1.2 billion) between 2009 and 2018.

No sanction has yet been meted out, but a severe points deduction or even expulsion from the Premier League are among the potential punishments. Al-Khelaifi shows support.

The Premier League season has been thrust into turmoil while clubs await the appeal verdict, with City sitting top of the table after six successive wins, including a 3-0 rout of Liverpool on Sunday. Winning the Champions League could be City’s only way back into the competition next season.

To do so they will need to stop PSG’s quest to join a very select club of sides to win the Champions League or European Cup in three consecutive seasons.

Further UEFA action against City is unlikely as the club successfully fended off European football’s governing body when they attempted to act on the same leak of documents in 2018 that led to the Premier League’s case.

In 2020, City were found guilty of breaking UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, fined 30 million euros ($34 million) and banned from playing in European competitions for two years. But City successfully overturned the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled that most of the alleged breaches “were either not established or time barred”.

In the early days of FFP rules, both City and PSG entered into settlement agreements with UEFA in 2014. But the French champions have managed to steer clear of such issues since, with president Nasser Al-Khelaifi becoming an influential figure, both as a member of the UEFA Executive Committee and chairman of the European Football Clubs (EFC) organisation.

At a meeting of the EFC in Copenhagen last month, Al-Khelaifi showed support for embattled City CEO Ferran Soriano. “His career is fantastic and Manchester City did a lot of positive things also, but I am not in a position to judge,” said Al-Khelaifi.

“I think that they have the right to appeal, so it is not the final decision.” But a crisis which could eliminate City as a Champions League rival for years to come would be another win for PSG on the field, giving Qatar the upper hand in the soft power battle with regional rivals the UAE.