Manchester City face an uncertain future after the English football club was found guilty of systematically breaching the Premier League’s financial rules for nearly a decade.
The decision – handed down by an independent disciplinary commission – leaves open a range of sanctions, including a fine, points deduction or even expulsion from the Premier League. City could also face possible compensation claims from rival teams.
The club, which is owned by Abu Dhabi-controlled City Football Group, has rejected the decision and is promising a relentless campaign to clear its name.
Here’s a look at what will happen in one of the biggest scandals in English football history:
Manchester City can appeal the decision and have insisted they will.
“The club is innocent of the allegations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists to support all of its positions,” Manchester City said in a statement. The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any appropriate regulatory and legal forum.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chairman of Manchester City and Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City during a Premier League match between Manchester City and Coventry City. The mayor released a statement earlier this week following rumors of the decision. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
To make its appeal, City will need to email the chairman of the independent commission’s three-person panel, who will then appoint a new appeals panel – also made up of three people, one of whom “shall have held judicial functions”, according to the Premier League’s handbook.
The Board will then schedule a hearing that must be completed within 12 weeks of the filing of the complaint and no more than five consecutive days.
The city’s punishment will be addressed in a separate, confidential hearing with the independent commission.
The Premier League’s statement did not mention whether sanctions could be imposed before the appeal is decided, only that the league’s aim was for the process to be completed “as quickly as possible”.
According to the Premier League, the independent commission can issue a reprimand, fine, suspension, points deduction or, in the worst case scenario, expel the club from the competition. Clubs have been relegated from the lower leagues in England, but never from the Premier League.
A club that is relegated from the Premier League can apply for membership in the English Football League, which runs the three divisions below the Premier League: the Championship, League One and League Two. EFL regulations state that “any former Premier League club may be required to accommodate in League Two”.
The biggest points deduction given to a Premier League team was 10 for Everton in 2023 for overspending in a three-year financial period. This deduction was later reduced to six following an appeal. City’s offenses are far more widespread and involved a refusal to co-operate, unlike Everton.
Separately, Football’s Independent Regulator – a body set up by the British government last year to set standards of governance in English football – could intervene in City’s case.
The new regulator is independent from the English football authorities and has the power to remove club owners if they are found to be unfit.
“The decision of the independent commission raises serious issues,” IFR chairman David Kogan said on Wednesday.
Football’s Independent Regulator chairman David Kogan (right) is still sorting out the possible role of the IFR in the Manchester City sanctions. (Photo by Ben Whitley/PA Images via Getty Images)
“The IFR has powers to assess the suitability of owners, directors and managers and we will use these powers where appropriate in the interests of protecting the sustainability, probity and integrity of English football where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing by individuals,” he said.
Kogan said the IFR was awaiting further developments in the ongoing proceedings between City and the Premier League.
The Manchester City case is a disciplinary proceeding, not a criminal investigation. However, some have suggested that the British authorities should also look into the matter.
“If the accounts have been falsified and the auditors have been misled, then it is potentially a criminal matter,” Lord Cruddas, a Conservative peer, told the BBC. “Auditors will call the police, directors are personally liable for any fraud by a UK company even if it is foreign owned.”
Under the Fraud Act 2006, individuals can face up to 10 years in prison if they are found to have dishonestly made a false representation with intent to gain or avoid a loss.
There have been no reports of any criminal investigation into the case.
No club has publicly announced its intention to make a compensation claim based on the impact of City’s breach of rules. However, the BBC reported that a number of clubs had begun seeking advice on whether they had a case for financial compensation before the verdict was announced.
A precedent was set this year when Everton were ordered to pay more than 35 million pounds ($47 million) in compensation to Burnley, who successfully argued before a disciplinary committee that they would have survived relegation – at Everton’s expense – in the 2021-22 season if their rivals had been handed a six-point financial penalty for the season.
In City’s case, top teams could argue they lost out on titles or Champions League qualification – worth tens of millions of dollars each season – because of City’s behaviour, and weaker teams could claim losses from City’s expensively assembled squads, contributing to relegation or lower finishing positions in the league standings, and therefore reduced prize money.
On Monday, former Tottenham and current United States manager Mauricio Pochettino expressed sadness at the absence of “sports justice“In the reported decision. “If it is true that 114 rules were broken, then we lived a period of deception,” Pochettino said. “So whatever the punishment ends up being … I don’t know. It is impossible to return. I think a lot of damage has been done.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.