Manchester City has been found guilty of 114 of the 115 financial rule breaches brought against it by the Premier League, according to sources cited by the BBC and The Athletic. An independent commission reached the verdict following a closed hearing that lasted approximately ten weeks, beginning in September 2024. No sanction has yet been announced, and significant legal battles are expected to follow.
The Premier League charged the club in February 2023 after a four-year investigation, accusing it of breaking financial rules across five categories during the period from the 2009–10 season to 2017–18. The charges included 54 counts of failing to provide accurate financial information, 14 counts of failing to accurately disclose player and coaching staff payments, five breaches of UEFA's financial fair play rules, seven violations of the league's own profitability and sustainability regulations, and 35 counts of failing to cooperate with Premier League investigations between December 2018 and February 2023. Sports finance expert Kieran Maguire has outlined three core allegations: that City misrepresented owner funding as sponsorship income to minimise reported losses; that payments were made to players and staff outside official accounts, potentially including sums channelled through Abu Dhabi-linked entities to former manager Roberto Mancini; and that the club obstructed the league's investigative process for years. Both the club and Mancini have denied the last allegation.
Manchester City, which has been owned since 2008 by the Abu Dhabi United Group — a consortium led by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan — strongly denied all charges and said its position was supported by