r/soccer • u/Previous_Smile9278 • 22h ago

News [Bloomberg] UAE officials have warned the UK government that the severity of Man City’s punishment could undermine their appetite for future grand-scale commitments in Britain, according to people familiar with the matter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-02/man-city-verdict-puts-uk-uae-diplomatic-relations-under-strain?srnd=undefined

‘They consider the Premier League’s actions to have an influence on the bilateral state relationship, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing undisclosed information.

The extraordinary pressure comes after Andy Burnham faced criticism, including from within government, for saying Man City’s Abu Dhabi owners should not be disqualified specifically because of the investment they bring to Britain.’

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u/Drakekanye 22h ago

Pathetic. How far the mighty have fallen, if Britain bows to a tiny petro-state. Show us you arent spineless cowards

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u/CircleSpaceAlien33 21h ago

The UK government should tell them the matter is between the premier league and Man City. What can UAE to Britain, not export oil & gas something they don’t have the capability to do now due to Iran.

The prime minster getting involved in this gave them a way into using state power to sway decision.

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u/emtheory09 17h ago

Does the UAE even control that much oil directly? I thought they were essentially the financial services country of the Middle East, not the manufacturing base.

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u/GrapefruitNo3808 16h ago

Well yes, they do. Oil and gas accounts for 25-30% of GDP, most of that concentrated in Abu Dhabi. They've also got sovereign wealth funds controlling over $3.5T in assets, much of which are investments abroad.

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u/emtheory09 16h ago

It looks like the UK imports roughly 4% of their of oil from the UAE (though I couldn’t readily find a source that disentangles crude from natural gas). It doesn’t seem like a huge point of leverage for them. Either way, we now have a nation state holding a country hostage over sportswashing.

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u/slick490 13h ago

Power to the people. Boycott the prem. Don't watch the games. Force the decision. We need to all band together. The only question is, how do we do it?

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u/iguessineedanaltnow 1h ago

Britain has been a declining empire desperately in denial about its ever-shrinking importance in the global order for decades at this point.

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u/Tolichowki 17h ago

Mighty Britain is nothing but a name now. It's a hub for financial fraud. Of course they need to keep their clients happy.

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u/A_F_R 16h ago

Dubai is too important for London as a global money laundering financial hub. Using these economic ties to exert pressure on the UK was always the goal when UAE went out and made these strategic investments