Manchester City have signed the biggest sponsorship deal in world sport - worth up to £400million.

The full mind-boggling extent of City's 10-year agreement with Etihad Airways was revealed by chief executive Garry Cook at the former City of Manchester Stadium.

City's home has been renamed the Etihad Stadium as part of the deal, which also includes an extension of the airline's shirt sponsorship deal and the redevelopment of land around the ground, to be known as the Etihad Campus.

The mega-rich club are also pressing ahead with the building of a state-of-the-art training complex next to the Etihad Stadium, with plans due to be submitted for public approval in the coming weeks.

The remarkable tie-up with Etihad represents the most lucrative sports sponsorship agreement of all time and goes a long way towards City complying with UEFA's new financial fair play regulations.

The deal dwarfs Arsenal's £90m 15-year agreement with Emirates, which included the naming rights to the stadium when they moved from Highbury in 2006, as well as a shirt ­sponsorship deal.

City's extraordinary deal also puts them way ahead of the biggest sponsorship tie-ups in America, which was for so long world leader in terms of naming rights for stadiums.

"This is one of the most important agreements in the history of world football," said Cook.

"What this partnership helps us do is to continue building on our priorities, which is investing in the infrastructure.

"That's not only the stadium, but around it, as well as youth development, our commitment to community and commercial growth.

"There's no surprise the backdrop is UEFA's financial fair play but this [deal] helps to make significant progress in that area.

"We've had a 44 per cent annual growth commercially.

"And we've delivered success over the last three years through investment in our future.

"We have targets and plans laid out over the next five years.

"The ambition is to continue our growth and be able to compete with the largest clubs in the European market.

"This football club has always had a commercial growth agenda an aggressive growth agenda.

"All of our partners are playing a part in that.

"But this [deal] is not necessarily in order to meet any compliance.

"This is a plan of growth between two great companies, the deepening of a relationship that started two years ago as simply a shirt sponsorship."

UEFA have vowed to scrutinise the fine detail of City's deal with Etihad to ensure it complies with the imminent introduction of their new regulations.

City, along with all European clubs, have been warned by UEFA that commercial deals will be subject to close examination to ensure everyone adheres to the new rules.

With Etihad owned by the Abu Dhabi government and City owner Sheikh Mansour having close links to them, UEFA will want to establish whether there is any conflict of interest in the deal.

"We are aware of the situation and our experts will make assessments of fair value of any sponsorship deals using benchmarks," said a UEFA spokesman.

UEFA will analyse the deal between City and Etihad to make sure it complies with market rates for similar agreements and meets its stringent regulations.

Cook added: "We have a very open dialogue with UEFA.

"We have had several meetings with UEFA about our growth plans and they are very supportive of Manchester City's ambition.

"We will look to continue our growth on and our pitch.

"The ambition for next year is that we are competing in a new competition for us in the Champions League, while we're also in the Premier League, FA Cup and Carling Cup.

"We'll endeavour to be successful in all four." 

Source: Mirror Football