When one of the most influential Emirati royals agreed to take over Manchester City, the Middle East made its entrance to soccer’s biggest league with a bang. Within hours of the takeover in 2008, the club paid more money for a player than any time in British soccer history.

The team went on to win eight English Premier League titles and the European Champions League and until last year looked unassailable. Almost two decades later, the whole project is at risk of a spectacular comedown. After years of dominance on the pitch, this season City is regularly losing matches. Even so, it is events off the field that risk undoing one of the world's most prominent soccer clubs — and spilling into politics.

After three months or so of arguments in a drab room at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London, a panel of three judges is deciding whether or not City broke the Premier League’s financial fair-play rules. If guilty, fines, stripping of titles and even being dumped out of England’s top competition could follow.