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Manchester City found guilty of serious financial breaches by an independent commission, including ‘sham contracts’ and inflating revenues, saving them £900 million.
Manchester City have been found guilty of a 900 million pound rule breach.
(AFP)
The Premier League has announced that an independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of all charges of ‘serious breaches’ of the league’s financial rules over the period between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons and a ‘majority’ of charges related to non-cooperation with the League’s investigation.
The league said the independent commission found that City ‘arranged sham contracts’ with several sponsors to ‘artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs’, concealed the true state of its accounts and ‘significantly’ broke the spending limits set by the PL and the UEFA. The commission found that these breaches saved Man City about £900 million (approx Rs. 11,504 crores).
The commission concluded that ‘by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules’.
“The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period,” Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League, said in a strong statement. “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. 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,” he added.
The League said it’ll now undertake a separate inquiry to decide the sanctions against City.
“The club has the right to appeal the independent Commission’s findings and has until Friday 2 October to exercise that right,” it said.
Commission ‘regrets’ delay in announcement
The Premier League began its investigation into Manchester City in December 2018 before issuing a complaint under Section W of its rules in February 2023. An independent Commission then held a 42-day hearing, which concluded in December 2024.
The Commission has explained the delay in issuing its decision, saying: “It has taken us much longer than we would have wished, and much longer than we had anticipated would be the case when the hearing concluded, to produce our Decision. That is regrettable.”
The Commission said it had to consider around 7,000 pages of verbatim witness and expert transcripts, along with detailed written submissions from the parties.
Manchester City claim innocence
City said it was ‘disappointed’ and ‘surprised’ by the ‘opinion’ of the Commission.
“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case. The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums,” it said.
“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe,” the club added.
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Ask News18An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of serious financial rule breaches covering the period between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons. The charges originally brought forward by the Premier League spanned from 2009 to 2018.
Ask News18September 29, 2026, 21:54 IST
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