Manchester City found guilty of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules

An independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period, the league announced on Tuesday, September 29. The breaches cover the seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18. The club denies wrongdoing and says it will appeal.

What the commission found

According to the Premier League's statement, the commission found that City arranged "sham" contracts with commercial partners to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900 million over that period. Euronews put the figure at approximately €1.05 billion.

Euronews reported that the arrangements involved Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), the club's owner, funding parts of sponsorship deals that the sponsoring companies only partly paid for. The commission also found that the club filed misstated accounts that concealed the true state of its finances from auditors and regulators.

Had the agreements been reported properly, the commission found, City "would have been in breach of both the League's and UEFA's spending limits by a very substantial amount," according to Euronews.

City was also found guilty of the majority of charges related to its failure to co-operate with the league's investigation. The Premier League statement quotes the commission as saying the club "clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules" and made "concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation."

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters described the case as "the most significant in Premier League history."

A long-running case

The Premier League says its investigation began in December 2018. Formal charges were issued in February 2023, and a 42-day hearing concluded in December 2024.

The verdict does not include a punishment. The league said sanctions will be determined at a separate hearing. ESPN reported that the Premier League wants to conclude the full process, including any appeals, as quickly as possible.

City's response

Manchester City has until Friday, October 2 to lodge an appeal and has confirmed it will do so. In its statement, the club said it "will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe," ESPN reported.

Chief executive Ferran Soriano, in a message to employees quoted by ESPN, said: "The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation that the owner's personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true."

Soriano added: "Our lawyers will now file an appeal that sets out that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact and is unsafe." According to Euronews, he also called the case a "conspiracy theory" and said the club would be "vindicated."

The club maintains that it is "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League."

Why it matters

The ruling closes the first stage of a case the league's own chief executive calls the most significant in its history, nearly eight years after the investigation began. No punishment has yet been set. The size of any sanction, and the result of City's appeal, will decide what the verdict means for the club and for the league's ability to enforce its financial rules.

Sources

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.