{"id":786610,"date":"2026-09-29T18:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/786610\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T18:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T18:14:11","slug":"manchester-city-guilty-over-premier-league-charges-after-900m-of-sham-contracts-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/786610\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City guilty over Premier League charges after \u00a3900m of \u2018sham\u2019 contracts | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester City breached Premier League financial rules by creating \u201csham\u201d contracts to help inflate revenue and reduce costs by more than \u00a3900m over a nine-year period, an independent commission found.<\/p>\n

The league announced on Tuesday that City had been found guilty on all charges related to serious breaches of its financial rules between seasons 2009-10 and 2017-18. It said a sanction would be addressed in a further hearing with the commission.<\/p>\n

City created a number of commercial deals with sponsors that were part of a scheme to disguise where the funding was coming from, the commission concluded. Companies were required to pay only a portion of the stipulated fees, with the remainder funded by the Abu Dhabi United Group Investment + Development Ltd (Adug), which owned the club. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, bought City in 2008.<\/p>\n

City deny wrongdoing and will appeal against the verdict before Friday\u2019s deadline. The club\u2019s chief executive, Ferran Soriano, said in a video to employees that the decision was based on a \u201cPremier League conspiracy theory\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a message designed to reassure staff, Soriano said: \u201cThe whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation \u2013 that the owner\u2019s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true. Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner.\u201d<\/p>\n

City said they were \u201cdisappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League commission\u201d and would be \u201crelentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums\u201d.<\/p>\n

The commission said City \u201cclearly intended to circumvent the Premier League rules\u201d. The club were also found guilty of failing to cooperate by trying to \u201cstop and frustrate\u201d the investigations, which began in December 2018.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A number of options are on the table regarding sanctions, including the stripping of titles, financial penalties and points deductions.<\/p>\n

The Premier League\u2019s chief executive, Richard Masters, described the case and decision as \u201cthe most significant\u201d in its history. \u201cThe core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period,\u201d Masters said. \u201cIt details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also vindicates the Premier League\u2019s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City. While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the league has remained determined that the facts be established independently.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the league remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Masters added: \u201cThere are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the commission\u2019s decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the league, our clubs and fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, said: \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly serious, the Premier League report is incredibly stark. Manchester City have the right to appeal. This is causing a lot of concern for City fans and all fans of Premier League football.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester City breached Premier League financial rules by creating \u201csham\u201d contracts to help inflate revenue and reduce costs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-786610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}