Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18 by an independent commission, the league has announced.
The Premier League said the commission found City had arranged ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of sponsors during the period as part of a disguised funding scheme. Under the arrangements, the companies involved were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees, with the remainder funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
Sham arrangements and inflated revenues
City were also found to have entered into further “sham arrangements” which enabled them to record lower operating expenses than they actually incurred, according to the Premier League's published statement. The scheme was found to have inflated the club's revenues and reduced their costs by more than £900million during the period in question.
The commission concluded that City had therefore filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of their finances from auditors and football regulators. It said that “by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the Premier League rules.”
Club rejects findings and will appeal
The club has rejected the findings and confirmed they will pursue an appeal “on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.”
The commission found that, had the information been accurately reported, City would have breached Premier League and UEFA spending limits “by a very large amount”. The club were also found to have committed multiple breaches of their duty to co-operate with the investigation, which began in 2018, and had attempted to “stop and frustrate” the Premier League's probe.
Premier League chief executive responds
Richard Masters, the chief executive of the Premier League, described the case and decision as “the most significant in Premier League history”.
Masters said: “The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade.
“It also vindicates the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City. While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the league has remained determined that the facts be established independently.
“It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the league remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.”
Masters added: “This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the league, our clubs and fans.”
Sanction to be decided at further hearing
The league said the issue of sanction will now be addressed separately at a further hearing with the independent commission.
The independent commission said it was “regrettable” that the decision had taken so long to reach. The hearing took place between September and December 2024, with the panel saying it had access to all documents used during the hearing. It also had verbatim transcripts of evidence given by every witness and expert, with the material running to more than 7,000 pages.
