Manchester City has been found guilty of all substantive financial charges brought by the Premier League, and the club is preparing to appeal. The independent commission’s findings cover nine seasons, from 2009/10 through 2017/18, with punishment to be decided separately.
The ruling adds an official account of the financial arrangements behind the case affecting City’s titles and players. The league puts the combined effect of overstated income and understated expenses at roughly $1.2 billion. That figure describes the accounting distortion, not a fine.
According to the commission, several sponsors were responsible for only part of the fees recorded in their agreements. The remainder came from Abu Dhabi United Group, the company that owned City. Money the panel said should have been recorded as owner contributions instead appeared as commercial revenue.
The distinction is between financing a club and earning revenue. Cash from an owner can keep a club running without being money it earned through its business. Presenting that cash as sponsorship income makes losses appear smaller. The commission concluded that accurate reporting would have exposed substantial breaches of both Premier League and UEFA spending limits.
The panel also upheld three of four charges concerning cooperation. Separately, it found that some key witnesses for City gave false evidence, with certain witnesses doing so knowingly. It said most factual witnesses had tried to give honest evidence. The findings therefore aren’t a blanket guilty verdict on literally every charge.
City disputes where the money came from
City rejects the ruling rather than accepting the findings and asking for leniency. Its statement maintains the club’s innocence and says the decision contains “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact.” The club says it will pursue the available appeal routes.
Chief executive Ferran Soriano expanded on that defense in a video to staff reported by AFP. He called the case “a single false accusation” that owner money had secretly reached City through sponsors in Abu Dhabi. Soriano said bank statements, transfer records and witness evidence showed that the money hadn’t come from the owner. He accused the commission of disregarding that evidence.
Soriano also warned that City would pursue compensation against parties it believes harm the club. His comments were a warning of further legal action, not confirmation that a compensation claim had been filed. The club’s challenge attacks the funding mechanism described in the ruling, not merely the severity of a possible punishment.
City has until Friday, October 2, to appeal the findings. The league’s process provides for an Appeal Board to consider that challenge, while sanctions will be addressed in a separate private hearing before the independent commission. The league says it wants the remaining proceedings concluded swiftly, but hasn’t announced a date for that hearing.
The available sanctions include fines, points deductions and other sporting penalties. No points deduction, relegation or title removal has been announced. Nor is it established that an appeal would automatically suspend a future sanction: the league declined to clarify that question when asked by Reuters.
The uncertainty reaches players such as Erling Haaland, whose future has already prompted City to reject claims linking him to Real Madrid. But the financial ruling isn’t a transfer announcement. It doesn’t establish that he wants to leave or that another club has a deal in place.
The commission has ruled on how City reported its past. It hasn’t yet decided the consequences for the club’s future.
