It has taken more than two years, but a judgement finally appears to have been reached on the 115 charges levelled against Manchester City over breaches of Premier League financial rules. BBC Sport has learned that a decision has been made, after the Athletic reported City had been found guilty on almost all of the charges. Sources have told the BBC that City have been found guilty of the majority of the breaches.
The process is far from over, however. The verdict has not yet been officially published by the independent panel that heard the case, sanctions are still to be determined, and an appeal from City is expected.
City were charged in February 2023 and referred to an independent commission over alleged breaches said to have taken place between 2009 and 2018. The 115 charges comprise 54 counts of failing to provide accurate financial information from 2009-10 to 2017-18; 14 counts of failing to provide accurate details for player and manager payments over the same period; five counts of failing to comply with Uefa’s rules, including financial fair play, from 2013-14 to 2017-18; seven counts of breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability (PSR) rules from 2015-16 to 2017-18; and 35 counts of failing to co-operate with Premier League investigations between December 2018 and February 2023.
The case has its roots in documents published by German newspaper Der Spiegel following City’s Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008. Those leaks included emails purportedly sent between top City executives and alleged that the club had inflated sponsorship revenue from state-owned airline Etihad and state-controlled telecoms firm Etisalat, disguising direct investment from its holding company — Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) — as sponsorship income. Further allegations centred on documents claiming to show secret off-the-books payments to then manager Roberto Mancini via consultancy fees from a club in Abu Dhabi, and that players were paid more than was recorded in the accounts. City have always denied wrongdoing, refused to comment on the Der Spiegel revelations, said the leaked emails were obtained illegally and described them as an attempt to damage the club’s reputation. They have always maintained that ADUG is a private fund rather than an arm of the state.
The road to this point has been long. Football Leaks allegations emerged in November 2018; Uefa opened a formal investigation in March 2019; City criticised the investigation and launched an appeal process in May 2019, which the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) deemed inadmissible that November. In February 2020 Uefa announced a two-year ban from European competitions and a €30m fine, but the ban was overturned on appeal to Cas in July 2020. The Premier League’s own investigation continued, and in February 2023 City were charged with 115 breaches. A 10-week hearing began on 16 September 2024. In February 2025, then manager Pep Guardiola said the club expected to learn the verdict within a month; Guardiola left the Etihad at the end of last season. Reports of a verdict emerged in September 2026, with sources telling the BBC that City had been found guilty of the majority of the charges.
Any punishment will not arrive with the verdict. All options remain open to the disciplinary commission: a points deduction, immediate or suspended; financial penalties, immediate or suspended; or removal from the Premier League. Removal would mean City lose their membership and be demoted to a lower division from the end of the season — something that could also be achieved by a points penalty severe enough to effectively relegate them.
The Premier League declined to comment on the case when approached on Friday. City issued a statement showing frustration that news of the verdict had leaked. It read: “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 has 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.”
An appeal from City is expected to be a formality. The club’s legal team is led by Lord Pannick KC, who is reported to charge £5,000 an hour and who helped City overturn their two-year European ban in 2020. While the commission’s judgement can be appealed, City cannot take the case to Cas. Given the process is already eight years old, it is impossible to speculate when it will come to an end.
City won the Premier League three times during the period in question — 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18 — as well as the FA Cup in 2011 and the EFL Cup three times, in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2017-18. Since the 2008 takeover, City have won eight league titles and multiple cups, including the Champions League as part of a Treble in 2023. If the commission chose to hand City’s titles to other clubs, Manchester United would benefit from 2011-12 and 2017-18, Liverpool from 2013-14 in the Premier League and 2015-16 in the EFL Cup, Stoke City from the 2010-11 FA Cup, Sunderland from the 2013-14 EFL Cup and Arsenal from the 2017-18 EFL Cup.
Clubs affected could also potentially claim compensation. Earlier this year, Everton were told they must pay Burnley £35m over the impact of a breach of the Premier League’s financial rules, after Burnley argued the breach affected their chances of staying in the Premier League. Burnley were awarded £26m in damages and a further £9m in interest. Clubs whose league positions were impacted by City’s offences could seek a loss of chance to win potential honours, with such claims needing to be heard individually by an independent commission.
The case has been six years in the making, with legal fees on both sides estimated at tens of millions of pounds before the hearing even started. Whichever side prevails can be expected to claim costs. For context, the Premier League wanted Everton to pay the full £4.9m legal costs of their first PSR six-point deduction case, but an appeal board ruled Everton should pay £1.7m and the Premier League cover the remaining £3.2m. Any costs paid by the Premier League at the end of the City case would have to be spread across the 20 clubs in the league.
Comparisons have been drawn with the separate PSR cases brought against Nottingham Forest and Everton. During the 2023-24 season, both clubs were docked points for making more losses than permitted over the three years from 2020-21 to 2022-23. Those cases involved a single charge, were easier to decipher and involved significantly less evidence. Everton were docked six points, reduced from 10 on appeal, for a first charge and then handed a two-point penalty for a second offence; Forest lost four points. Chelsea, by contrast, faced 74 charges focused primarily on transfers between 2010-11 and 2015-16, including deals for Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o and Willian. The Premier League fined Chelsea £10m and handed out a suspended transfer ban after they admitted making £47m in secret payments — a case Chelsea settled with the Premier League after self-reporting, unlike City, who have always denied wrongdoing.