An independent commission appointed by the Premier League has found Manchester City guilty on 114 of 115 charges of breaching the competition's financial rules, in a case the league's chief executive, Richard Masters, called the most significant in its history. City say they are innocent and will appeal. The penalty has yet to be decided.
According to the commission's ruling, published in part-redacted form, City used sham commercial arrangements between 2009-10 and 2017-18 to inflate revenue and understate costs. One source puts the sums involved at more than £900 million, while another cites about £830 million of disguised payments presented as sponsorship income. The panel also found breaches linked to a failure to cooperate with the league's investigation. It concluded that, had the deals been accounted for as it determined, City would have exceeded Premier League and UEFA spending limits by a wide margin in several seasons. One example cited is the former manager Roberto Mancini, who is said to have received part of his salary via Abu Dhabi. The case began after the Football Leaks documents, reported by Der Spiegel from 2018, exposed the arrangements.
City have been owned since 2008 by the Abu Dhabi United Group, backed by Sheikh Mansour, a member of Abu Dhabi's ruling family and a vice president of the United Arab Emirates. Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says the club will prove its innocence, and chief executive Ferran Soriano has told staff that "irrefutable evidence" was ignored. Pep Guardiola, who managed the club until this summer, publicly pledged his support. In 2020 UEFA banned City from European competition, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban, finding most allegations unproven or time-barred. The Premier League has no such time limit.
The sanction will be set at a separate hearing by the same commission, and the options are broad: fines, points deductions, transfer bans, stripping of titles or, at the extreme, expulsion. Rival clubs have no vote, but according to The Guardian some are lobbying for more than a one-season relegation to the Championship, arguing it would not match nine seasons of breaches. Several want the process finished this season. Under new rules, an appeal could be decided by the end of January 2027, though City may challenge those timelines. Experts note that the club can appeal both the verdict and the penalty. Legal specialist Roberto Branco Martins expects the process to take time.
The stakes extend beyond sport. Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool have reserved the right to seek damages, and Burnley recently won more than £35 million from Everton over a similar profitability case. Some clubs also remain unhappy with the £10 million fine given to Chelsea. Commentators say the league faces a test of credibility: a lenient outcome would damage trust in English football, while a severe one would cost it one of its biggest draws. For now, City's titles and place in the league remain in place.