Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges concerning serious breaches of Premier League financial rules across nine seasons, with an independent commission also upholding most allegations that the club failed to cooperate with the league’s investigation.
Commission finds false contracts and hidden costs
The findings concern the period from 2009-10 to 2017-18, an era in which City’s rise to the summit of English football was fuelled by a lavish rebuild of the squad. The commission concluded that the club used “false” contracts and substantially breached both Premier League and UEFA spending limits.
It said the purpose was to cut City’s apparent costs by more than £900 million, equivalent to €1.05 billion, so that the club would appear to meet financial requirements. In doing so, the commission found that City submitted inaccurate accounts and concealed their true financial position from auditors and football regulators.
- City were found guilty of charges linked to major Premier League financial-rule breaches over nine campaigns.
- Most accusations concerning a lack of cooperation with the league’s inquiry were also upheld.
- The commission said the arrangements were designed to make the club’s spending position look healthier than it was.
- Both domestic Premier League limits and UEFA rules were affected by the findings.
Sponsorship arrangements at the centre of case
The commission determined that City entered into fictitious commercial arrangements with several sponsors as part of a concealed funding operation. Under the arrangements, the sponsoring companies were required to provide only part of the declared sponsorship payments.
The remainder, the findings said, came from Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, known as ADUG, the club’s owner.
Further sham agreements, also financed by ADUG, were put in place to enable City to record operating expenses below their actual level. The case also included a circular arrangement involving Fordham, an organisation which acquired image rights for City players. That deal too was said to have been funded by ADUG.
The spending behind City’s transformation
Across the seasons under examination, City spent €1.44 billion. That investment brought leading players to Manchester and helped reshape the club’s modern history, turning it from an ambitious challenger into a serial contender at the top of the English game.
The commission’s conclusions, however, cast that defining period in a far harsher light: not simply as an age of heavy recruitment, but as one in which the club’s reported financial picture was found not to reflect the full reality of its funding and expenditure.
