September 2008
Manchester City bought by Abu Dhabi investors
On a dramatic transfer deadline day, the Abu Dhabi United Group (Adug) agrees a £200m takeover of Manchester City. The group, led by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan – a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family – buys 90% of the club from Thaksin Shinawatra. The new owners make an immediate impact with the £32.5m signing of Robinho from Real Madrid before the transfer window closes.
August 2009
First summer of big spending
Having signed Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta before the takeover, Mark Hughes adds Nigel de Jong (£16m) and Craig Bellamy (£14.5m) in January 2009 but City only finish 10th. In the summer window, Gareth Barry (£12m), Joleon Lescott (£22m) and Emmanuel Adebayor (£25m) arrive. City’s move to take former Manchester United forward Carlos Tevez (£25.5m) – complete with provocative poster – leads Sir Alex Ferguson to dub them “noisy neighbours”.
December 2009
Exit Hughes, enter Mancini
Mark Hughes fails to lead the team up the table and is sacked, replaced by Roberto Mancini. Form improves but City miss out on the top four after a home defeat by Tottenham. In the summer, a number of big names arrive – Yaya Touré, David Silva and Mario Balotelli, costing £24m each, plus James Milner in a deal worth £18m. In August 2010, Sheikh Mansour attends his first (and still only) City home game, a 3-0 victory over Liverpool.
May 2011
FA Cup ends trophy drought
With the addition of Edin Dzeko (£27m) in January 2011, Mancini is able to steer City to a third-place finish and a first Champions League campaign. In the FA Cup, Touré’s winner stuns United in the semi-final and the Ivorian strikes again in the final against Stoke. Victory ends a 35-year wait for a major trophy – and marks the end of an infamous Old Trafford banner.
August 2011
Etihad deal and Uefa’s new era
Having first been established in September 2009, financial fair play (FFP) rules are introduced by Uefa for the 2011-12 season. City offer an early test of the new system, announcing a 10-year sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways (the UAE’s national airline) in July 2011. City’s home ground is renamed the Etihad Stadium as part of the deal.
May 2012
Agüerooooo: last-gasp title glory
With club-record signing Sergio Agüero (£38m) and Samir Nasri (£24m) arriving in the summer of 2011, City emerge as title contenders and thrash United 6-1 at Old Trafford. Things don’t go so well in Europe, and Tevez goes awol after a row with Mancini. United pull eight points clear at the top, but Tevez returns and a 1-0 win over Ferguson’s men at the Etihad puts City back on top. They need to beat QPR at home on the final day but head into stoppage time 2-1 down; Dzeko nods in an equaliser before Agüero scores in the 94th minute to win the title and spark pandemonium.
June 2013
Ciao Roberto, hola Manuel
Mancini’s second season begins with questionable deadline-day signings – Jack Rodwell, Javi García and Scott Sinclair arrive for a combined £35m. A disappointing campaign ends with United reclaiming the title and defeat by Wigan in the FA Cup final. City sack the Italian, one year and a day after he won the title. His replacement, Manuel Pellegrini, is hired from Málaga. Tevez joins Adebayor and Balotelli in leaving the club, with the arrival of Fernandinho (£30m) signalling a new approach.
August 2013
New York and new rules
Having previously held discussions with MLS chiefs while at Barcelona, Ferran Soriano – who became City’s CEO in August 2012 – is approached about investing in an expansion team. City invest $100m, alongside the New York Yankees, to launch New York City FC. The club also create the City Football Group (CFG), an umbrella company to manage a planned multi-club ownership model. Meanwhile in the Premier League, profit and sustainability rules (PSR) are brought in for the 2013-14 season, mirroring Uefa’s FFP guidelines.
May 2014
Second Premier League title
Pellegrini leads City to the league title when Liverpool slip up on the home straight, and takes them into the Champions League knockouts for the first time. They suffer a chastening defeat by Barcelona in the last 16, but the new manager also wins the League Cup, beating Sunderland 3-1 in the final.
May 2014
City fined by Uefa over breaches
Days after securing the title, City reluctantly accept a conditional €60m (£49m) Uefa fine after recording combined losses of over £150m in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. The club are also restricted to a 21-man European squad and £49m net spend over the next season – but have the opportunity to recoup two-thirds of the penalty by meeting future targets.
August 2015
Transfer trouble and no trophies
The 2014-15 season ends without a trophy. City finish second to Chelsea in the league and are beaten by Barcelona again in Europe. Big-money buys Eliaquim Mangala (£41m) and Wilfried Bony (£25m) flop. Despite an underwhelming campaign and City being linked with Pep Guardiola, Pellegrini extends his deal to June 2017, and is backed with new attacking recruits Raheem Sterling (£44m) and Kevin De Bruyne (£55m).
December 2015
CFG, China and women’s team
CFG announce a £265m deal with Chinese investors CMC for a 13% stake in the club. Khaldoon al-Mubarak, City’s chairman, says the deal will “leverage the incredible potential that exists in China”. CFG have by this stage added A-League club Melbourne City and Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos to the fold, and also made Manchester City’s affiliate women’s team part of the group.
February 2016
Pep signs up, progress in Europe
Pellegrini’s team labour to fourth place in the league and the Chilean confirms in February he will leave at the end of the season. It is quickly revealed that his replacement will be Guardiola. Pellegrini leads City to the Champions League semi-finals – where they lose narrowly to Real Madrid – and beats Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the League Cup final.
May 2017
Guardiola’s difficult first season
Guardiola is reunited with Soriano and the director of football, Txiki Begiristain, who bring in John Stones (£47.5m), Leroy Sané (£37m) and Ilkay Gündogan (£20m) to bolster the squad. Guardiola’s first season in charge is a disappointment, though, with City finishing third in the league and crashing out of the Champions League last 16 to Monaco.
November 2018
Der Spiegel story breaks
The German magazine Der Spiegel publishes emails obtained by Rui Pinto’s Football Leaks website alleging Manchester City’s owners had broken Uefa’s FFP regulations. The report claims Sheikh Mansour was mostly funding Etihad’s £67.5m sponsorship deal and that Mancini had received extra payments through a second contract. Uefa launches an investigation, while City denounce the emails as “out-of-context materials purportedly hacked or stolen”, and allege an “organised attempt to damage the club’s reputation”.
May 2018
Centurions claim title
Several key players arrive in the summer of 2017, including Kyle Walker (£45m), Bernardo Silva (£43m) and Ederson (£35m) – plus Benjamin Mendy (£49.3m). City then break their transfer record in January, signing Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao (£57m). Guardiola’s team are transformed in his second full season, racing to City’s third Premier League title with 100 points – a new top-flight record. The League Cup is also won, but Liverpool send City out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
May 2019
Domestic treble
City sign Riyad Mahrez from Leicester in the summer of 2018 for £60m, a club record. City prevail in a thrilling title race with Liverpool, retain the League Cup and win the FA Cup, beating Watford 6-0 in the final to complete a domestic treble. Off the pitch, Uefa begins an investigation into the Der Spiegel allegations, with the ourt of arbitration for sport (Cas) rejecting City’s first appeal in November 2019. In the same month, the US private equity group Silver Lake makes a $500m investment in the club.
February 2020
Champions League ban and Covid
In a bombshell announcement, Uefa ban City from the Champions League for two seasons and fine the club €30m (£25m) after they are found to have broken FFP rules and misled European football’s governing body. City vow to take the case to Cas “at the earliest opportunity”. Weeks later, the season grinds to a halt as the Covid pandemic hits Europe.
July 2020
Cas appeal and Project Restart
As football returns behind closed doors, City win their appeal with Cas and Uefa’s ban is lifted. A three-person panel concludes “most of the alleged breaches were either not established or time-barred”, and reduces the fine to €10m (£9m) for failing to cooperate with investigations by Uefa’s club financial control body.
On the pitch, City finish a distant second to Liverpool in the title race and crash out of the Champions League with a quarter-final defeat by Lyon in Lisbon. New record signing Rodri (£62.8m) struggles to replace Fernandinho in City’s midfield.
May 2021
Another title and Super League fiasco
The 2020-21 season sees City reassert dominance in the Premier League, finishing 12 points clear of United. A fourth League Cup in a row is also won, but a first-ever Champions League final trip ends in a 1-0 defeat by Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea. Rúben Dias (£62.1m) and Nathan Aké (£40m) are new defensive recruits, and the club make nearly £18m in profit on Sané’s move to Bayern.
In April 2021 City are revealed to be one of six Premier League clubs signed up to the breakaway European Super League. It collapses within 48 hours after an outcry. City follow Chelsea in withdrawing from the project as fans protest against the move.
May 2022
Two in a row, Real disaster and FFP update
City smash their transfer record by paying £100m to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa. They later sell Raheem Sterling to Chelsea for £47.5m, while in the winter Ferran Torres joins Barcelona netting City a £27.5m profit. Another epic title battle with Liverpool ends with City on top, winning 93 points to 92. In the Champions League, Real Madrid produce a late fightback to deny City a place in the final. Off the field, Der Spiegel reports that the Premier League has been investigating City’s potential FFP breaches for three years, and Guardiola says he would leave if he felt lied to by the club.
February 2023
Premier League publishes charges
In an announcement on their website, the Premier League lists 115 charges against City, to be adjudicated upon at an independent hearing. The number of potential breaches is revised to more than 130 across nine seasons, including:
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54 breaches of failing to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information
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14 breaches of failing to provide accurate player and manager compensation reports
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Five breaches of failing to comply with Uefa’s regulations, including FFP
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Seven breaches of Premier League profitability and sustainability regulations
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35 breaches of failing to cooperate with Premier League investigations
June 2023
First Champions League and the treble
City’s ownership responds to the Premier League’s charges, referring to a “body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position”. On the pitch, Guardiola’s players only become more focused, winning 12 league games in a row to overtake Arsenal in the title race, and adding the FA Cup with victory over United at Wembley.
Erling Haaland (£51.2m) enjoys an extraordinary first season at the club, scoring 52 goals. It is Rodri, now the team’s most crucial player, who scores in Istanbul to beat Inter as City finally get their hands on the Champions League trophy and complete the treble.
May 2024
Four titles in a row
City continue to spend after winning the treble, signing Josko Gvardiol (£77.5m) and Jérémy Doku (£55.4m). The sales of Mahrez and Laporte to Saudi sides and the underused youngster Cole Palmer to Chelsea help balance the books. City again overhaul Arsenal to win an unprecedented fourth English title in a row.
In La Liga, the CFG partner club Girona finish in the top four and are cleared by Uefa to compete in the Champions League. CFG now includes 12 football clubs across the globe. The Girona star Savinho, who is owned by their fellow CFG club Troyes, joins City in the summer of 2024 for £30m. City sell Júlian Álvarez to Atlético for €75m (£64.4m), then a club-record sale.
September 2024
Hearing into PL charges begins
After the Premier League chief, Richard Masters, suggests “the time is right” to resolve the charges against City, a private hearing begins in London. David Pannick KC leads the club’s defence in front of an independent commission; the hearing ends on 6 December.
October 2024
Both sides claim victory in APT case
In a separate legal case raised in June 2024, City challenge the Premier League’s new associated party transaction (APT) rules, designed to limit teams’ ability to buy players from, or strike sponsorship deals with, parties related to their ownership. In October, City claim victory on two key issues and assert that the rules were “found to be unlawful”. The Premier League takes a different view, claiming the ruling “upheld the need for the APT system”.
December 2024
Domestic dominance unravels
After an unbeaten start to their title defence, City lose 2-0 at Bournemouth in early November and go on a run of one win in 13 games in all competitions before beating Leicester on 29 December. Even a new contract extension for Guardiola cannot stop the rot, with the team falling out of the title race and in a battle to reach the Champions League knockout stages.
February 2025
Tribunal finds in City’s favour
With a verdict on the Premier League’s charges supposedly imminent, City claim a decisive victory in their separate battle over APT rules, as a tribunal finds the league’s original rules to be “void and unenforceable”. On the field, despite an outlay of over £170m in January to sign four new players, City are dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid. Guardiola says he expects a verdict “in one month”, but that proves to be wide of the mark.
July 2025
Summer spending and on-field issues
City’s season ends with a painful FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace, and their Club World Cup trip is abruptly ended by Al-Hilal in the last 16. With a verdict – or even a potential date for one – still yet to arrive, the club invest in a squad overhaul. About £175m is spent on new signings, with close to £80m recouped through player sales. City lose two of their first three Premier League games, at home to Spurs and away at Brighton.
January 2026
New signings and Guardiola speculation
Having failed to keep pace with the league leaders, Arsenal, City spend £85m in January to sign the Palace defender Marc Guéhi and the Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo. With at least 10 first-team players signed in 13 months, City’s squad rebuild appears complete – but speculation swirls that Guardiola could call time on his tenure at the end of the season.
May 2026
Two cups mark the end of an era
City win both domestic cups, defeating Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final and seeing off Chelsea in the FA Cup, with Semenyo scoring the winner. Arsenal prevail in the title race, however, and Guardiola confirms his departure before the final league game of the season, against Villa. The Etihad Stadium’s North Stand is renamed in his honour, and his former assistant Enzo Maresca is lined up to replace Guardiola in the dugout. Maresca’s first window sees more big spending, headlined by a British transfer-record equalling move for Enzo Fernández.
September 2026
The verdict
More than three and a half years after the charges are brought, reports emerge of a verdict. City are reported to have been found guilty of all but one charge of more than 100 breaches, but with no immediate details of any sanctions.
