Premier League outlines Manchester City’s alleged breach of rules and ‘sham’ dealings
By David Close, CNN
(CNN) — The Premier League has found Manchester City guilty of all of the charges related to serious breaches of the league’s financial rules.
Sanctions related to the allegations have not been disclosed, though potential punishments against the club could include a points deduction, an unlimited fine, or even expulsion from the league entirely, according to the Premier League’s handbook.
Manchester City has consistently denied any wrongdoing and in a statement released Tuesday, said it would “pursue the appeal avenues” following the Premier League’s disclosure and is “innocent of the accusations.”
Within the Premier League’s statement, it said the independent commission found the Manchester, England-based club “arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs.”
The Premier League posted the commission’s 40-page document, with multiple sentences and graphs redacted, outlining Man City’s alleged business schemes to circumvent the financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. The case lays out “strong, cogent evidence” outlining “serious wrongdoing.”
The case against the club states City’s “income across those years was consequently hugely overstated by over £830 million,” which converts to more than $1 billion.
The league said, “the club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances” and failed to cooperate with the investigation – accusing the soccer powerhouse of committing “multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League.”
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the commission’s decision vindicates the organization’s pursuit of the alleged hundreds of rule violations.
“This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history,” Masters stated. “There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches.”
An outcome years in the making
While Premier League action has continued as normal on the pitch, the hearing and its potential findings have been bubbling away under the surface since the charges were announced in 2023.
The club was charged in February of that year after a four-plus year investigation.
On Tuesday, the Independent Commission noted it held a 42-day hearing that ended in December 2024 and that it regretted how long it took to publicly release the evidence.
The league also accused City of failing to comply with UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations between 2013-14 and 2017-18 and failing to follow Premier League rules on profit and sustainability between 2015-16 and 2017-18.
Manchester City won a total of eight trophies in the period covered by the case. This included three Premier League titles, three League Cups and one FA Cup.
The 2010-11 FA Cup was City’s first major trophy in 35 years – their previous title coming in 1976.
The 2011-12 Premier League title was the first of eight they have won to date.
The hearing eventually started in September 2024 and carried on until the end of that year.
At the time, former City manager Pep Guardiola said he was looking forward to having the matter settled.
“I am happy that it starts on Monday,” Guardiola said in a press conference. “I know there will be more rumors and new specialists about the sentences will come up. We are going to see. I know what people are looking for, I know what they are expecting.”
Guardiola continued: “Everybody is innocent until guilt is proven. An independent panel will decide, and I’m looking forward to the decision.”
This was also not the first time that Manchester City had faced allegations over financial misconduct.
In 2020, the club was initially banned from European soccer for two seasons for “serious breaches” of FFP regulations. The ban was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which also reduced the accompanying $34 million fine to $11.3 million, ruling that City had failed to cooperate with UEFA.
Thomas Schlachter, Patrick Sung Cuadrado, Aleks Klosok, Jacob Lev and Kevin Dotson contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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