In recent weeks, Labour leaders have repeated a line that the Manchester City cheating scandal should be treated as a separate matter to Abu Dhabi’s wider investment in the city.
The club faces potential relegation from the Premier League as punishment for breaching its financial rules with a series of “sham” contracts, which artificially inflated the club’s revenues by around £900m.
City’s owners Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) have invested more than a £1bn in property and infrastructure across east and central Manchester, leading prime minister Andy Burnham to controversially tell reporters he would be “really concerned” if they walked away from the club as a result of any punishment.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Craig has insisted scrutiny of Manchester’s relationship with Abu Dhabi has been used to take “cheap shots” against local authorities and Burnham, her predecessor, telling the Manchester Evening News: “What was a football story should have stayed a football story.”
However, deals struck by the Manchester council and other public bodies with Abu Dhabi firms linked to the club’s owners have raised concerns about who is in control of some of the city’s most prized land – risking a damaging fallout if diplomatic relations between the UK and UAE are affected by the scandal.
Abu Dhabi could ‘cut their losses’ if City appeal fails
Some Middle East experts believe if City lose their appeal against the 114 financial breaches they were found guilty of last month and face a harsh punishment, ADUG could decide to walk away from Manchester, on and off the pitch.
Christopher Davidson, author of Abu Dhabi: Oil and Beyond, said he expects Abu Dhabi’s rulers to “cut their losses” and sell Man City rather than face the “nightmare scenario” of being declared unfit owners by the UK’s new independent football regulator.
While this would not put at risk the UK’s entire trade relationship with the UAE, thought to be worth at least £30bn, it would potentially mean the withdrawal of further Abu Dhabi investment in Manchester.
Davidson said the Emiratis regard the northern city as a “very small side show” in the context of the billions of pounds of investment they are involved in around the globe.
UAE’s stamp across £1bn site
Abu Dhabi’s footprint has spread enormously since the takeover City in 2008, and there now exists a tangled web of mutual interests with the local council that touches land, property and business – including a £1bn, 200-acre sports, leisure and entertainment hub now branded ‘Etihad Campus’.
Appearing to defend the Emiratis last month, Burnham said: “I do actually thank the City Football Group and the wider ownership for the money that they didn’t just put into the Etihad [Stadium] and the campus around it, but also into the city.”
The Etihad Stadium, paid for by the public purse when it was built for £112m to host the Commonwealth Games in 2002, is still owned by Manchester council, which rents it out to the football club on a 250-year lease.
The i Paper revealed earlier this week that the council sold the naming rights for the stadium to City for £750,000 a year in 2010. Months later, UAE-owned airline Etihad Airways paid an estimated £10m a year for the same naming rights.
But not only did the Etihad Airways deal boost City’s coffers – improperly according to the Premier League’s commission – it also extended Abu Dhabi’s influence beyond the turnstiles, in a move which was signed off by a key government body.
The sponsorship also covered all of the other state-backed sporting venues and infrastructure surrounding the stadium which were also built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Until 2011, the Regional Tennis Centre, National Squash Centre, National Cycling Centre and Regional Athletics Arena were branded under ‘SportCity’ banner, having been built in collaboration with Sport England.
SportCity disappeared and the renamed Etihad Campus has gradually expanded to include City’s academy, a sports science facility, a sixth form college and office and retail space. There is even an ‘Etihad Campus’ tram stop.
Analysis by The i Paper suggests this complex of different assets is worth more than £1bn.
A council document obtained by The i Paper confirms that Sport England, an arm’s-length body of the UK Government, was required to give consent to the renaming of SportCity in 2011. Manchester council continues to manage the naming rights deal for the wider Etihad Campus.
Davidson said the state-approved branding of a significant part of Manchester under the Etihad banner and the financial exposure could pose problems for the city if UAE decides to step back from the UK.
He said: “The political will to continue with local level investments in a city where they no longer have the anchor, the soft power investment, would seem unlikely, after all, the UAE has much wider interests than a northern city in England.”
A spokesperson said all income received is ringfenced for investment into sport and leisure in the city.
Working for Abu Dhabi, employed by the council
The most recent example of Abu Dhabi’s investment in the area around City’s stadium is the £300m expansion of the stadium that will take its capacity above 60,000 people and includes a new hotel, restaurants and bars.
It also includes Medlock Square, which is billed as a 24/7 entertainment destination and is directly opposite the £450m Co-Op Live venue, which opened opposite in 2024 and is also co-owned by Abu Dhabi.
With the opening of the arena, the council watered down its shareholding in the company managing the day-to-day operations of the Etihad Campus – which had previously been split 50/50 between City’s owners and the local authority – to allow Co-op Live to take a 33.3 per cent share.
But despite the council now holding a minority stake in the Sport City Management Company, it does take the responsibility of employing staff for the private firm.
A recent job advert for the £72,000 a year role of Strategic Manager stated the successful applicant – who would responsible for issues such as security and travel planning – would be employed by Manchester City Council while reporting to the board of the private company.
The council says its costs are later recovered from estate management funds.
‘We’d like to see receipts’
Manchester’s relationship with Abu Dhabi was pioneered by the council’s former chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein, who died in 2024, and leader Sir Richard Leese, who stepped down in 2021. Leese is now honorary president of Man City.
Leese argues the Abu Dhabi deal was made at a time when private sector investment in Manchester had dried up and that it has proven to be a major benefit to the city overall.
But a new generation of leaders in Manchester has been more cautious and reviews are now underway into a range of deals struck between Abu Dhabi and local authorities.
Loans made to property companies – including three worth £55m to firms controlled by Abu Dhabi – while Burnham was Greater Manchester mayor are being probed, while Manchester council has said it will review a deal which has seen the authority receive less than £3m for building almost 1,800 homes alongside ADUG.
Craig, who replaced Burnham this summer, told BBC Radio Manchester there are no plans for further property deals with Abu Dhabi going forward.
Tom Stannard, who took over as chief executive in 2025, told the Manchester Evening News: “We do understand that deals made more than a decade ago with private partners that are bound by varying degrees of confidentiality and commercial sensitivity does create concern.”
Labour no longer holds total political control of Manchester and lost a clutch of seats to both the Green party and Reform UK in this year’s local elections.
Councillor Sian Astley, a property developer, is among those to have gained a foothold for Reform and is now demanding answers over Manchester’s deals with Abu Dhabi.
Speaking of the 2011 naming rights deal, she asked: “Why did Manchester city council accept so little? They were never playing with their money, they were playing with ours.
“Once again we’re back at demanding full transparency and openness in Manchester. It’s not good enough… to point at regeneration and tell us we’re lucky to have it, we’d like to see the receipts please.”
A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: “On top of the stadium rental income, a baseline income linked to the naming rights for the Etihad Stadium was agreed in 2011, which includes an annual uplift linked to inflation (RPI).
“As such, the Council has received a further income from the freehold arrangements for the stadium of more than £14m since the agreement was made, which otherwise would not have occurred.
“All income from the Council’s freehold arrangements with the club – including rental income, naming rights and potential uplift linked to any European fixtures – are ringfenced for sport and leisure investment in the city, in partnership with Sport England.”
What is in the Etihad Campus?
National Cycling Centre (£9.5m) Opened in 1994 as the UK’s first indoor Olympic-standard velodrome, it also has offices for British cycling’s governing body.
National Squash Centre (£3.5m) Constructed for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, it hosts seven courts that can be used by the public.
National Tennis Centre (not disclosed), which also opened in 2002, boasts six tennis courts as well as five-a-side football pitches that can be hired by the public.
Etihad Stadium (£112m) Built for the Commonwealth Games using public money, the centrepiece of the event became home to Manchester City the following year. Originally called the City of Manchester Stadium, it was renamed the Eithad Stadium in 2008.
Athletics Track (£3.5m) Originally developed as the warmup track for the Commonwealth Games, it is now a multipurpose stadium used for athletics, football and rugby league.
Connell Sixth Form College (£10m) Opened in 2013 after land was donated by Manchester City, it is currently home to a roll of around 1,000 pupils aged 16–19.
City Football Academy (£200m) Opened in 2014, the 80-acre training site serves as the training pitches and headquarters of Manchester City’s men’s, women’s and youth squad.
Beswick Leisure Centre (£9.4m) Opened in 2014 after Manchester City donated one-third of the funding for the project, along with the council and Sport England.
Manchester Institute of Sports Science and Sports Medicine (£13.95m) Opened in 2016, the facility is operated by Nuffield Health after being founded by the club, the council and Sport England as an elite sports science facility.
Co-Op Live Arena (£450m) Launched in 2024 and is co-owned by City’s Abu Dhabi owners and US-based Oak View Group. It is the UK’s largest indoor arena with a capacity of 23,500 and has already hosted acts such as Peter Kay, Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga.
Stadium expansion plus hotel and restaurants (£300m) A redevelopment of the Etihad Stadium has seen its capacity increased to 61,000 and the opening of a 401-room Radisson Blu Hotel.
Total: £1.1bn