Manchester City are set to be found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges made by the Premier League, in a seismic moment for English football.
An independent commission is poised to announce the results of its four-year investigation into the case, according to The Athletic. No sanctions have yet been decided, but City are expected to appeal against the ruling.
The Premier League said the alleged breaches took place between 2009 and 2018, and related to providing accurate financial information and failing to comply with profit and sustainability rules (PSR). Other charges included an accusation of failing to co-operate with the Premier League’s investigation, which was prompted by the Football Leaks revelations.
City have been England’s most successful team since the club’s fortunes were transformed by Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008. The club won the Premier League three times between 2009 and 2018, a period in which the club also won one FA Cup and three League Cups.
Under former manager Pep Guardiola, City won the Premier League in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, including an unprecedented run of four in a row. In 2023, the club also won the Champions League for the first time, completing a historic ‘Treble’ of major prizes.
City had previously denied any wrongdoing throughout the process and expressed their “surprise” when they were referred to an independent commission.
Could City be expelled from the Premier League?
The short answer is yes, but there are a wide range of punishments available to the top-flight’s authorities. Sanctions could include fines and/or points deductions, and even expulsion as a member of the Premier League, which would require City to rebuild from the lower leagues.
Rule W.51 of the Premier League is the relevant section of its regulations, and it states that options for sanctioning a club found guilty of breaches include the powers to:
- “Suspend it from playing in League Matches”
- “Deduct points scored or to be scored in League Matches”
- “Recommend that the League expels the Respondent from membership”
- “Order the Respondent to pay compensation unlimited in amount to any Person or to any Club”
The rules state that any combination of punishments could be applied, and that penalties could be conditional or contingent on a “defined action” being taken.
What were the charges?
The charges against City related to the requirement to accurately report financial information, including around the value of sponsorship deals, the submission of details of manager and player pay information and to a club’s responsibility as a Premier League member to adhere to Uefa’s financial regulations and to the league’s own profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).
They are also accused of failing to co-operate with the league’s investigation. In all, there are charges relating to every season between 2009-10 and 2022-23, during a period in which they won three Premier League titles.
How has the Premier League punished other clubs?
There is no precedent for the sheer scale of regulations City have been found guilty of breaching. But the Premier League has taken action over other clubs for breaching financial rules.
The most severe punishment in recent years was handed out to Everton, who were deducted six points after losing more than the £105m PSR limit in a three-year period.
Nottingham Forest also breached PSR rules for losses accrued in a defined period and were hit with a four-point deduction.
The case of Chelsea earlier this year was unique, in the club’s current ownership self-reported historical breaches to the Premier League, after discovering misdemeanours by the previous ownership regime under Roman Abramovich.
The Blues were charged last September with 74 alleged breaches of the FA’s rules around agent regulations, concerning its use of unauthorised agents or unregistered intermediaries when signing new players and then submitted false and misleading documentation to the FA. They primarily related to the seasons between 2010/11 to 2015/16, which came under the ownership of the Russian billionaire.
The FA appeal board’s written reasons reveals Chelsea “plainly disregarded” the rules and made undisclosed payments to agents or third-parties when signing players such as the Brazilian forward Willian and striker Samuel Eto’o during that time.
Chelsea were fined £10.75m, handed a nine-month academy transfer ban, and a one-year first-team transfer ban suspended for two years – after successfully appealing against a six-point deduction.
In its written reasons, the appeal board found that, despite admitting to the breaches, Chelsea did not gain an “actual sporting advantage” and determined that “a sporting sanction of a points deduction, albeit suspended, was an excessive sanction”.
The original commission, however, found “the principal and overall motive behind the club’s conduct was to gain a sporting advantage”. The FA also sought the imposition of a £10m fine and a two-window transfer ban, which Chelsea agreed with.
