Premier League: introduction of limitations on partnerships concluded between associated parties

The majority of Premier League clubs have voted to lift the ban on "associated party transactions", i.e. those linking a club to a company with which its owner is associated, while introducing a system of limitations to ensure that transactions respect a "fair market value," according to British media reports on 14/12/2021.

Each sponsorship deal will be scrutinised to ensure that clubs do not benefit financially from potentially "excessive" rights. Indeed, some clubs fear that such deals with a tied partner could be overvalued and thus provide the beneficiaries with more funds for the acquisition of players. The Premier League wants clubs to respect the rules imposed by Financial Fair Play.

To ensure that this is the case, the English league will have these particular sponsorship deals reviewed by an "independent assessor", and will create an anonymous searchable database to benchmark against previous commercial deals. The Premier League board will have to approve such partnerships.

A temporary ban on such partnerships had been passed by 18 out of 20 Premier League clubs, according to…