Premier League Claims Manchester City Broke 100 Financial Rules

The Premier League has indicted Manchester City for more than 100 financial rule infractions following a four-year investigation.

The Premier League has reported Manchester City to a different organization on multiple occasions between 2009 and 2018 for purported rule infractions.

Furthermore, it alleged that City had been uncooperative ever since the investigations started in December 2018.

City won the Premier League for the sixth time in their history last season after being purchased by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.

Clubs can receive punishment from the commission in the form of expulsion from the Premier League, fines, or point deductions.

City allegedly violated the rules by failing to provide “accurate financial information that reflects a genuine and fair picture of the club’s financial condition,” according to a statement from the Premier League.

This data referred to the club’s earnings, which also included running expenses and sponsorship revenue.

There are also allegations of violations of rules requiring full disclosure of manager salary during Roberto Mancini’s tenure as manager from 2009–10 to 2012–13 and player compensation from 2010–11 to 2015–16.

The Premier League claimed that from 2013–14 to 2017–18, City violated both Premier League requirements for sustainability and profitability as well as Uefa rules, particularly Financial Fair Play (FFP).

The governing body of European football, Uefa, found in 2020 that City had “seriously” broken FFP guidelines between 2012 and 2016.

Later that year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned a two-year ban from European competitions.

Uefa opened an investigation into City after German publication Der Spiegel published stolen papers in November 2018 that suggested the club had exaggerated the value of a sponsorship deal.

When the Premier League investigation originally started, City alleged that the assertions were “absolutely false” and that the allegations in Der Spiegel were the product of “illegal hacking and out-of-context leaking of City emails.”

At the time of filling this report, Manchester City was yet to respond to the Premier League allegations.