The English Premier League body has announced that Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges relating to breaching its financial regulations by an independent commission
The EPL released a statement confirming the news that has made the rounds in recent days, with Man City guilty of breaches that took place between the 2009/10 and the 2017/18 season
The Abu Dhabi owned club was also found guilty of non-cooperation with the investigation into the case that started in 2023
Man City had been alleged by the EPL of inflating revenues and reducing costs, but the club claimed innocence despite receiving fine from UEFA, the continental football body, for similar offences related to breaching financial fairplay rules
However, the EPL embarked on an exhaustive investigation via an independent commission amidst throve of document leaks that allegedly showed the Manchester club had inflated accounting figures
The EPL has therefore made the independent commission’s decision public, revealing that City made serious breach to its rules
“An independent Commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation
“The independent Commission found that between Seasons 2009/10 and 2017/18 Manchester City arranged ‘sham’ contracts (which misrepresented the true agreement between the parties) with a number of its commercial partners, as well as relying on ‘sham’ agreements with others, to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs
“The club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators Manchester City was significantly in breach of both the Premier League’s and UEFA’s spending limits.
“During the Premier League’s investigation, Manchester City committed multiple breaches of its duties of co-operation and utmost good faith towards the League (three of the four alleged breaches were upheld)”
The Premier League also detailed how Man City artificially inflated its revenues and reduced cost to have over £900 million within the nine-year period investigated, and appeared to have successfully complied with financial rules
It added that the club allegedly used its Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG) company to unethically inject substantial parts of purported sponsors’ agreed sponsorship deals, used a fictitious firm to lower operating expenses, and used third parties to purchase players’ image rights in sham arrangements that allowed the injection of more revenue into the club
EPL Chief Executive Richard Masters, hailed the case as the most significant in the league’s history, and called for a quick conclusion to the case, and the expected sanctions
“There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches
“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”
Man City has until Friday, October 2, to appeal the independent commission’s findings