Manchester City broke the Premier League’s financial rules over nine seasons, an independent commission ruled Tuesday, finding the club guilty of all the financial charges and of most of the charges accusing it of failing to cooperate with the League’s investigation. The punishment has not yet been decided.
What the commission found
The case, laid out in the League’s statement and a redacted Core Decision published Tuesday, rested on four charges. City was found guilty on all of them, in whole or in large part.
On the first charge, the commission found sponsorship deals City signed with a number of its sponsors were “sham” arrangements: the sponsors paid only part of the money recorded, with the rest funded by the club’s owner at the time, Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG). Further “sham” arrangements funded by ADUG let the club record lower operating expenses than it actually incurred, the League said, and a separate “sham” circular arrangement involved Fordham, an entity that bought the club’s players’ image rights. Because of this, the commission found, City’s accounts for those seasons did not give a “true and fair view” of its finances.
Once the accounts are restated, the commission found, City missed both UEFA’s break-even rules and, from 2015/16 onward, the Premier League’s own Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) — a cap meant to stop clubs spending far more than they earn — “by a very substantial amount” in each case. Overall, revenues were inflated and costs reduced by “more than £900 million.”
On the fourth charge, covering City’s cooperation with the investigation, the commission found breaches in most of the alleged conduct but not all of it — “three of the four alleged breaches were upheld.” It also rejected the club’s criticisms of how the League ran its investigation and prosecution.
The League said the commission concluded that “by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules,” and that City “made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation.” League chief executive Richard Masters said the decision “establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period” and “details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.” Masters said, “This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history.”
What the commission did not decide
Tuesday’s decision does not set a punishment. Masters said “there are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches.” That sanction will be set at a separate, private hearing before the same commission, which under League rules can impose fines, points deductions or other sporting sanctions.
City has until Friday, Oct. 2, to appeal, the League said. The club said it will “pursue the appeal avenues open to it.” Any appeal would go to a three-member Appeal Board, one of whose members should have held judicial office, which may allow the appeal, dismiss it, or make any other order it thinks fit, including varying the commission’s order. Only a redacted version of the Core Decision has been published, with a large number of appendices to follow when the League is able to publish them.
The club’s response
Manchester City said in a statement it was “disappointed and surprised” by the decision and maintained that “the Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League.” It said the opinion “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.” “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted,” the club said.
How we got here
The League opened its investigation into City’s finances in December 2018 and charged the club in February 2023, citing “well over 100 individual breaches” grouped into the four charges above; City denied each one. An independent commission heard the case over 42 days, between Sept. 16 and Dec. 6, 2024, and published its findings nearly two years later, on Tuesday.
Other Premier League clubs have faced PSR cases in recent years, according to the League’s past statements and news reports, among them Everton, which was docked 10 points in 2023, later reduced to six on appeal, and Nottingham Forest, docked four points in 2024 — neither case predicts what City will face.
What’s next
The sanction hearing will be held in private, and its outcome will stay confidential until the League’s rules allow it to be published, the League said. It intends the full process, including any appeals, to be concluded as soon as possible.