Javier Tebas has returned to an argument he first made in Manchester nearly nine years ago, using the latest developments in Manchester City’s Premier League financial case to press his case for tougher controls across European football.
La Liga’s president said reports that an independent Premier League commission has found 114 of the 115 charges against City proven underline the need for transparency, financial oversight and rules applied evenly throughout the game. The process is not yet complete, with the sanction still to be decided.
A long-running warning revisited
- At the Soccerex conference in Manchester in September 2017, Tebas publicly raised concerns about what he called financial doping in European football.
- He named Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, arguing that their financial strength did not arise solely from normal club activity but also from substantial outside backing.
- Tebas questioned sponsorship valuations which he believed did not reflect market reality, warning that such models could drive up wages, transfer fees and wider costs for rival clubs.
- Manchester City responded at the time by describing his comments as “ill-informed” and “pure fiction”, while saying it was considering legal action.
The present case stems from material obtained after millions of confidential documents were leaked by a hacker. City were charged by the Premier League with 115 alleged financial-rule breaches, and reports now indicate that 114 have been upheld by the commission.
Tebas said he was not revisiting his 2017 comments merely to claim he had been proved right. Instead, he presented the episode as part of a wider fight over how football should be funded and regulated.
“Economic sustainability is not bureaucracy,” Tebas said. “Financial control is not a whim.”
UEFA case and CAS appeal
- In February 2020, UEFA handed Manchester City a two-season ban from its club competitions and a €30 million fine after finding serious breaches of financial-control rules.
- The findings included issues surrounding the presentation of certain sponsorship income.
- In July 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the European ban.
- CAS ruled that some allegations were time-barred and others had not been established to the required evidential standard.
- It nevertheless found that City had failed to cooperate with UEFA’s investigation, cutting the financial penalty to €10 million.
Tebas said he never accepted what he termed the “strange” CAS outcome, believing it damaged the credibility of both the court as an independent sporting arbitration body and European football’s financial-control system.
For the La Liga chief, the central issue is not opposition to a particular club but the principle that sporting success should rest on sound management, revenue generation, squad-building and compliance with the same regulations facing every competitor.
Sanction still to come
While the reported commission findings represent a significant stage in the Premier League case, the final punishment has not been announced and proceedings remain ongoing.
Tebas said he had faced criticism, threats and personal difficulties for maintaining his position, but insisted his view had not shifted since that Manchester conference in 2017. Football, he argued, needs financial regulation not as a technical exercise but as protection against a competition shaped by whoever has the most powerful financial support behind them.
