Manchester City have been found guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period from 2009 to 2018, with an independent commission ruling that the club used commercial arrangements to inflate its revenues and reduce costs.The commission found that City arranged contracts with several commercial partners under which the companies paid only part of the agreed sponsorship fees. The remaining amounts were funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development (ADUG), which owned the club.The commission also found that further arrangements funded by ADUG allowed City to record lower operating expenses than they actually incurred.According to the ruling, the arrangements artificially increased the club’s revenues and reduced its costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion) during the period under investigation. This meant City did not accurately report their income and expenditure under the Premier League and UEFA’s financial sustainability rules.The commission found that City would have breached spending limits “by a very substantial amount” if the club had reported its finances accurately.City were also found guilty on the majority of charges relating to their failure to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation. The commission said the club had “made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League” during the four-year investigation.No sanction has been imposed yet and City have said they will appeal the decision. Under Premier League rules, the punishment can range from a fine or points deduction to expulsion from the division.Everton and Nottingham Forest were handed points deductions during the 2023/24 season for single breaches of the financial sustainability rules. If a similar penalty were applied to City for more than 100 charges, the club could face relegation.The ruling puts City’s place in the Premier League at risk and also raises questions over whether titles could be stripped.“The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade,” Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a statement on Tuesday.“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.”The decision follows an investigation into alleged breaches that began before the Premier League charged City with more than 100 offences in 2023. A hearing by an independent commission began in September 2024 and concluded three months later.Since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, vice-president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, took over the club in 2008, City have won eight Premier League titles, four FA Cups and seven League Cups. They also won the Champions League for the first time in 2023.City expressed “surprise” at the commission’s decision and said they would continue to challenge the findings.“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 said in a statement.“It’s incredibly serious, the Premier League report is incredibly stark,” said the British government’s culture, media and sport secretary Lisa Nandy.
