Manchester City found guilty of Premier League financial rule breaches

Manchester, England. Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules over nine seasons, the league said on Tuesday. An independent commission also upheld three of four charges concerning the club’s failure to co-operate with the investigation.

Commission findings

City were charged in February 2023 after a four-year investigation into alleged breaches between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.

The commission found that City arranged “sham” contracts that misrepresented its agreements with several commercial partners. It said the club relied on similar agreements with others to inflate revenue and reduce costs artificially.

Several sponsors were required to pay only part of the fees recorded in their agreements, with the balance supplied by the club’s owners, Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), the commission found. It also identified ADUG-funded arrangements that allowed City to record lower operating expenses.

According to the league, the schemes inflated City’s revenue and reduced its costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion), creating the appearance that the club complied with financial regulations. The commission concluded that City would have breached both Premier League and UEFA spending limits “by a very substantial amount” had the agreements been reported accurately.

Hearing and appeal

The report found that a number of City’s witnesses presented false evidence during the 42-day hearing and that some knowingly misled the commission.

City denies wrongdoing and said it would appeal “on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe”.

“The core decision… details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade,” said Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive.