An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules over nine seasons, and of most charges concerning the club’s failure to co-operate with the league’s investigation. The determination of sanctions remains subject to a separate hearing.
League establishes breaches over nine seasons
The Premier League said on Tuesday 29 September 2026 that the commission had concluded that the breaches occurred between the 2009-2010 and 2017-2018 seasons. Manchester City has until Friday 2 October to appeal the commission’s findings.
According to the decision summary, Manchester City entered into contracts and commercial arrangements with several of its commercial partners that the commission described as sham arrangements, and also relied on other agreements that did not reflect the true understanding between the parties. The commission considered these arrangements part of an undisclosed funding scheme under which some commercial partners were required to pay only part of the recorded sponsorship fees.
The commission said the purpose of the schemes was to artificially inflate the club’s revenue and reduce its costs by more than £900 million during the period under investigation, making its financial position appear compliant with the rules governing spending.
The decision also concluded that the club had submitted accounts containing inaccurate information and concealed the true picture of its financial position from auditors and football’s governing bodies. The commission found that Manchester City was in serious breach of the spending limits applied by the Premier League and UEFA.
The commission said the club’s conduct, according to its findings, showed a clear intention to circumvent the financial rules. It also upheld three of four charges relating to Manchester City’s failure to fulfil its duties of co-operation and good faith during the investigation conducted by the league.
Premier League describes breaches as systematic
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the commission’s decision set out in detail how the club had systematically breached the competition’s rules for almost a decade. He added that aspects of the case still required a decision, principally the sanction resulting from the established breaches.
The independent commission is due to hold a separate hearing to consider sanctions, at which the Premier League will present its proposed course of action and Manchester City will set out its defence. The sanctions hearing will remain private and confidential until its outcome may be published. Manchester City rejected the commission’s findings, saying it felt “disappointment and surprise” at the published decision.
The club said it was innocent of the charges brought by the Premier League and that it had, in its description, a comprehensive body of conclusive evidence supporting its position in the case. It added that it would continue to defend its position through all appropriate regulatory and legal channels and would be firm and proactive when necessary. It said the case proceedings were still ongoing and that important elements had not yet been completed.
Manchester City announced its intention to pursue the available appeal routes, saying the commission’s opinion contained clear and fundamental errors of law, principle and fact and could not be relied upon. It also said it had complied with the legal process for eight years on the basis that the league’s administration would act as an independent, impartial and fair regulator.
Case referred after investigation into 115 charges
The Premier League referred Manchester City to an independent commission on 6 February 2023, following a several-year investigation, accusing the club of more than 100 breaches of the financial rules, widely known as the 115 charges case. The charges included providing misleading financial information between 2009 and 2018, as well as failing to co-operate with the investigation.
The three-member independent commission began hearings on 16 September 2024 at an undisclosed location in London. The hearings lasted 12 weeks before concluding on 6 December of the same year, and the decision was issued almost two years after the end of the submissions.
UEFA had previously decided in February 2020 to ban Manchester City from the Champions League for two seasons and fine it 30 million euros over financial breaches and a failure to co-operate with the investigation.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport later overturned the ban after ruling that some allegations had not been proven and others were time-barred, but upheld the finding of non-co-operation and reduced the fine to 10 million euros. Following publication of the commission’s findings, the case moves to the appeal and sanction-determination stages. The commission has not yet decided on the penalty Manchester City will face for the breaches established by the ruling.
