Manchester City Found Guilty of Serious Financial Breaches by Premier League Commission
London – The English Premier League announced on Tuesday that an independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the league’s financial regulations. The ruling covers a period spanning from the 2009-10 season through the 2017-18 season, marking a significant legal development for one of Europe’s most prominent football clubs. According to the league statement, the commission determined that the club had arranged sham contracts and agreements with commercial partners to artificially inflate its revenues and reduce its costs.
The investigation revealed that these arrangements were part of a disguised funding scheme involving Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, the entity that owns the club. Under this structure, companies were required to pay only a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees, while the remainder was funded directly by the Abu Dhabi United Group. Furthermore, additional sham arrangements enabled the club to record lower operating expenses. The Premier League stated that these schemes inflated City’s revenues and reduced its costs by more than £900 million, approximately €1.05 billion, over the affected period.
In its statement, the league emphasized that Manchester City failed to accurately report its income and expenditure for the purposes of both the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules and UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Rules. Had the relevant agreements been reported accurately, the commission found that the club would have been in breach of spending limits by a very substantial amount. The league added that City was also found guilty on the majority of charges relating to its failure to cooperate with the investigation.
Richard Masters, the chief executive of the Premier League, described the case and the decision as the most significant in Premier League history. He noted that while certain elements, including sanctions, were yet to be resolved, the core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. Masters detailed how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.
Manchester City has continued to deny any wrongdoing. In a statement issued later on Tuesday, the club expressed disappointment and surprise at the commission's opinion. Ferran Soriano, the club's CEO, criticized what he dubbed the "Premier League's conspiracy theory" and insisted that the club would be vindicated. He told club staff that they would look back at this moment as another time in their history when they dealt with adversity and overcame it together.
The club maintains that it is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League. It stated that a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all its positions regarding this case. Manchester City FC declared that it will pursue the appeal avenues open to it, arguing that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle, and fact, and is unsafe. The club has until October 2 to lodge an official appeal.
This report was produced in the Europe Brief News newsroom.
