Man City found guilty on nearly all charges, appeal next
An independent commission found City used sham sponsorship deals to inflate revenue and cut costs by more than 900 million pounds. The appeal deadline is Friday, October 2.
Just over the weekend, Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak spoke of “confidence and an intention to prove the club’s innocence.” On Tuesday, September 29, the Premier League formally confirmed the independent commission’s verdict and everything went the other way: City were found guilty on every charge covering the financial rules and on most of those covering non-cooperation with the investigation. The club currently top the table, and the penalty has yet to be set.
British media reported the outcome on Friday, and the league has only now published the decision. The breaches span nine seasons, from 2009/10 to 2017/18, while the non-cooperation covers the period from 2018 to 2023. The league opened the case more than three years ago, and it grew out of leaked emails and club documents from 2018.
What did the commission find about the sponsorship deals?
According to the league’s statement, the club entered “sham” agreements with a number of commercial partners, agreements that misrepresented the real arrangement between the parties, in order to artificially inflate revenue and cut costs by more than 900 million pounds. Of the 949.94 million pounds in sponsorship revenue reported from Abu Dhabi sponsors, the sponsors actually paid 119.25 million. The rest came from the club’s owner, ADUG.
“Those companies were only obliged to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Ltd (ADUG), which was the owner of the club.”
That, the league says, is how City avoided a record single-season loss in Premier League history in 2009/10. The commission also found that the club submitted inaccurate financial reports and significantly breached the spending limits of the Premier League and UEFA.
The commission also assessed the witnesses called by the club. The league’s statement says some of them told the hearing what they knew to be untrue:
“The evidence of a number of important factual witnesses called by the club was untruthful in a number of key respects. Some of those witnesses gave evidence at the hearing that they knew to be untrue, and were therefore dishonest.”
On non-cooperation, the reports differ in detail: the league’s statement speaks of most of the charges, while Yahoo Sports writes that the club was found guilty on all charges but one.
What do the league and the club say?
League chief executive Richard Masters described the verdict in a sentence City will be hearing for a long time: “This disciplinary case and this decision are the most significant in the history of the Premier League.” He added that the decision shows how the club “systematically broke Premier League rules over almost an entire decade,” and on the next steps he said:
“Now that we have the commission’s decision, we are committed to moving quickly through the rest of the process, in order to provide certainty for the league, the clubs and the fans.”
The club answers in a different vocabulary. In its statement it said it was both disappointed and surprised:
“The club is innocent of the charges brought by the Premier League and there is a substantial body of irrefutable evidence that supports all of its positions in relation to this case. The club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.”
City also claim the commission’s opinion “contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact” and that it “is not reliable.” The club has confirmed it will appeal.
What happens after the verdict?
The appeal deadline is Friday, October 2. The appeal, permitted under Section W of the league’s rules, would be heard by a new three-member panel. The club cannot go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but it can go to the High Court in London if it believes the process was not fair and impartial.
The penalty will be set at a separate hearing, and it is not known when that will take place. The Premier League has no scale of penalties set in advance: clubs voted against one because they feared someone might break the rules and simply pay a known fine up front. On the table are a fine, a points deduction and other sporting sanctions, and they could take effect as early as this season.
For comparison, Everton were docked six points on appeal in 2023/24, then two more, and Nottingham Forest four. Luton lost 30 points in 2008/09, ten for unauthorized payments to agents and twenty for leaving administration without a voluntary arrangement with creditors. Derby lost 21 points in 2021/22.
A second front is also opening after the verdict. Rival clubs could bring claims for damages over lost trophies and Champions League places, and there is also the question of whether stars such as Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki will stay at the club. The next date is Friday, October 2, when City’s deadline to appeal expires, and the penalty will be decided by a separate hearing regardless.
