Manchester City guilty of all financial breaches, Premier League confirms; threatened with expulsion

Pep Guardiola, then manager of Manchester City, poses for a photo with the Premier League title after his team’s victory during the Premier League match between Manchester City and West Ham United at Etihad Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo/Getty Images) Manchester City have been found guilty of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules over a nine-season period from 2009 to 2018, with an independent panel ruling that the club used commercial arrangements to inflate their income and cut costs.The commission found that the city entered into contracts with several business partners under which the companies paid only a portion of the agreed upon sponsorship fees. The remaining sums were financed by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development (ADUG), which owned the club.The commission also found that other ADUG-funded measures allowed the city to record lower operating costs than actually incurred.According to the ruling, these arrangements artificially increased the club’s revenue and reduced its costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion) during the period under investigation. This meant that City did not accurately report their income and expenditure according to Premier League rules and UEFA’s financial sustainability rules.The commission found that City would be in breach of spending limits “by a very substantial amount” if the club accurately reported its finances.City were also found guilty of most charges relating to their failure to co-operate with the Premier League investigation. The commission said the club had “made a concerted effort to stop and disrupt the Premier League” during the four-year investigation.No penalty has yet been imposed and the city has said it will appeal the decision. Under Premier League rules, punishment can range from a fine or point deduction to being banned from the division.Everton and Nottingham Forest have had their points deducted in the 2023/24 season for individual breaches of financial sustainability rules. If a similar punishment were imposed on City for more than 100 charges, the club could face relegation.The decision threatens City’s place in the Premier League and also raises questions about whether the titles could be stripped.“The underlying decision sets out the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically breached Premier League rules for nearly a decade,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a statement on Tuesday.“Now that we have the commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the rest of the process to provide certainty for the league, our clubs and fans.”The decision follows an investigation into alleged breaches that began before the Premier League charged City with more than 100 offenses in 2023. A hearing by an independent commission began in September 2024 and ended three months later.Since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, took over the club in 2008, City have won eight Premier League titles, four FA Cups and seven League Cups. They also won the Champions League for the first time in 2023.The city expressed “surprise” at the commission’s decision and said it would continue to challenge the findings.“Manchester City FC will now proceed with the avenues of appeal available to it on the basis that the opinion contains clear factual errors of law, principle and fact and is unsafe,” the club said in a statement.“It’s incredibly serious, the message from the Premier League is incredibly stark,” said the UK government’s Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy.