The Premier League has concluded that Manchester City is guilty of violating its financial regulations. An independent commission determined that the Manchester-based club engaged in “sham” contracts with commercial partners to artificially boost revenues and conceal costs between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. These actions, described by the league as “serious wrongdoing,” reportedly allowed the club to misstate its financial accounts and hide its true fiscal position from both auditors and regulators. 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 s, the Premier League posted the commission’s 40-page document. “The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the club’s revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than £900 million during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules,” Tuesday’s Premier League statement decries. “The consequence of this, as the Commission found, was that the club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors. 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. According to “I am happy that it starts on Monday,” Guardiola, In a press conference. “I know there will be more rumors and new specialists about the sentences will come up. I know what people are looking for, I know what they are expecting.”.
Official documents released by the league detail a systematic attempt to circumvent financial rules, with income across the affected seasons allegedly overstated by more than £830 million, or roughly $1 billion. Additionally, the club is accused of understating its expenditures by tens of millions of dollars. The league’s findings also note that Manchester City failed to cooperate with investigators, citing multiple breaches of the club’s duties regarding transparency and good faith.
While specific sanctions remain undisclosed, the Premier League handbook outlines potential penalties that include significant points deductions, unlimited fines, or even total expulsion from the competition. Richard Masters, the league’s chief executive, described the decision as the most significant in the competition’s history, noting that the focus now shifts to determining the appropriate disciplinary measures.
In response to the ruling, Manchester City maintained its innocence, labeling the findings as based on a “single false accusation” and describing the process as a conspiracy. In an internal communication to staff, CEO Ferran Soriano stated the club possesses “irrefutable evidence” to support its position and confirmed plans to “pursue the appeal avenues” against the commission’s findings.
The investigation stems from charges brought in February 2023, following a four-year inquiry into the club’s financial practices. A 42-day hearing was conducted between September and December 2024 to examine the evidence. The case covers a period of immense success for the club, which secured eight major trophies—including three Premier League titles—during the timeframe of the alleged misconduct. The hearing and its potential findings have been bubbling away under the surface since the charges were announced in 2023, while Premier League action has continued as normal on the pitch. 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 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.
This is not the first time the organization has faced financial scrutiny. In 2020, Manchester City was initially banned from European competition for two seasons due to “serious breaches” of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations. That decision was subsequently overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which reduced a $34 million fine to $11.3 million after ruling the club had failed to cooperate with the governing body rather than proving the substantive financial violations. The 2010-11 FA Cup was City’s first major trophy in 35 years – their previous title coming in 1976.
Reflecting on the proceedings before the conclusion, former manager Pep Guardiola had stated his desire for the matter to be resolved, emphasizing that the club maintained the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. As the legal process now enters the next phase, the Premier League’s independent commission has expressed regret over the delay in reaching a public determination. Thomas Schlachter, Patrick Sung Cuadrado, Aleks Klosok, Jacob Lev and Kevin Dotson contributed to this report. This story has been updated with additional information.
