Manchester City and PSG meet as state-backed projects take different paths

Manchester City face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday with the two Gulf-backed projects at sharply different points in their development.

While PSG are European champions after successive Champions League titles and continue to dominate French football, City return to the competition under the shadow of an unresolved financial case that could threaten their Premier League future.

The Abu Dhabi-backed club were found guilty of 114 breaches of the English Premier League’s financial rules in a landmark verdict. Manchester City deny the allegations and have appealed against the findings of an independent commission.

The case concerns the use of what the commission described as “sham” commercial agreements with Emirati companies. Those arrangements were found to have inflated revenue and reduced costs by more than £900m (about R21.6 billion) between 2009 and 2018.

No punishment has yet been imposed, but possible sanctions include a substantial points deduction or expulsion from the Premier League. The appeal verdict is being awaited by clubs across the division.

City have made an impressive start to the current league season, sitting top of the table after six successive victories, including a 3-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday. If the club are removed from the Premier League, winning the Champions League could be their only route back into the competition next season.

The meeting is also a contest between two clubs whose fortunes were transformed by Gulf state ownership. Sheikh Mansour, vice-president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, fronted City’s takeover in 2008.

Their rise reached its high point in 2023, when victory over Inter Milan in Istanbul completed a treble of the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup. City had beaten Qatar-owned PSG to become European champions first.

PSG are now attempting to win the Champions League or European Cup for a third consecutive season, a feat achieved by only a small group of clubs. Success would further underline their emergence as Europe’s leading side.

Further action from Uefa appears unlikely after City successfully challenged the governing body over the same leaked documents from 2018 that later formed the basis of the Premier League case.

In 2020, City were found guilty of Financial Fair Play breaches, fined €30m (R600 million) and given a two-year ban from European competition. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban, ruling that most alleged breaches “were either not established or time barred”.

Both City and PSG agreed settlement deals with Uefa in 2014, during the early years of Financial Fair Play. PSG have avoided similar problems since, with president Nasser Al-Khelaifi becoming influential as a member of the UEFA Executive Committee and chairman of the European Football Clubs organisation.

At an EFC meeting in Copenhagen last month, Al-Khelaifi backed City chief executive 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,” he said. “I think that they have the right to appeal, so it is not the final decision.”

A crisis that could remove City from the Champions League picture for years would also represent an advantage for PSG in the soft-power rivalry between Qatar and the UAE.

Uefa Champions League matchday two fixtures

Tuesday: Lens v SCP, 18:45; Sabah v Slavia Praha; Galatasaray v Barcelona; RB Leipzig v PSV; Arsenal v LOSC.

Wednesday: Atletico v Man Utd; Villarreal v Napoli; Viking v Bayern; Inter v Club Brugge, 18:45; LASK v Liverpool, 18:45; Feyenoord v Como; Shakhtar Donetsk v AEK; Betis v Porto; Roma v Real Madrid; Slovan Bratislava v VfB Stuttgart; Aston Villa v Fenerbahce; Man City v PSG; Bodø/Glimt v Dortmund.