Manchester City ‘found guilty’ of financial rule breaches

Mike McGrath Fri, September 25, 2026 at 2:16 PM UTC

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Manchester City have been found guilty of the vast majority of the charges

Manchester City have reportedly been found guilty on virtually all of the 115 charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations.

No sanction has been officially announced yet, and City are expected to appeal the verdict. Sanctions could include the stripping of titles won by City, a points deduction or financial penalty, or even relegation from the top flight.

A City spokesman said: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s statement of February 2023.

“The club have diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”

City have always denied the charges, promising “irrefutable” evidence in support of their position, and had assembled some of the most expensive lawyers in the country to argue their case.

The independent commission, though, appears to have found against them in key accusations about the provision of accurate financial information, inflating sponsorship deals with links to their Abu Dhabi owners and failing to disclose payments to players and their former manager Roberto Mancini.

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The charges span from the 2009-10 season until the five-year investigation ended during the 2022-23 campaign and leave a cloud hanging over the 20 major trophies that have been won since Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group completed their takeover in 2008.

Man City have won nine Premier League titles since the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club in 2008 - Getty Images/Michael Regan

Pep Guardiola, who oversaw a Treble in 2023 and an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title in 2024, left the club at the end of last season.

The likely verdict vindicates the Premier League’s decision to launch an investigation after explosive allegations that City had routinely broken financial rules were first made in Der Spiegel in 2018 based on the Football Leaks documents.

Uefa has previously also accused City of breaches of its financial regulations and announced in 2020 that it was suspending the club from the Champions League for two years for “overstating” sponsorship revenue between 2012 and 2016.

City denied this and, after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), the two-year ban was overturned. Cas found that a number of the claims brought by Uefa had fallen outside a five-year “time bar” and others were “not established”.

It did, however, still impose a €10m fine after ruling that City failed to cooperate with investigators. City had previously also agreed a settlement with Uefa of €20m in 2014 following an investigation into their finances.

More to follow...

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Source: “AOL Sports”