Man City Guilty of Breaking Finance Rules Over 9 Seasons
The commission found the breaches occurred between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. It said City arranged “sham” contracts with commercial partners, misstated its accounts and hid the true state of its finances from auditors and football regulators.
Those arrangements artificially inflated revenues and cut costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion), the commission found, allowing the club to look compliant with financial rules. Without them, it concluded, City would have substantially breached both Premier League and UEFA spending limits.
The club was also found to have violated its duty to cooperate with the Premier League investigation. Three of four related allegations were upheld, and the commission said City had worked to frustrate the inquiry.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters called the case the most significant disciplinary proceeding in the competition's history. He said the findings showed City had systematically broken the rules for almost a decade.
No sanction has been decided. Penalties will be weighed at a separate hearing, and league rules allow for fines, points deductions and other sporting punishments.
Manchester City said they were “disappointed and surprised” by the verdict and maintained their innocence, arguing that the ruling contained “clear material errors” of law, principle and fact.
The club confirmed it will pursue every available avenue of appeal. It has until Oct. 2 to formally challenge the findings.
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