Manchester City found guilty of serious Premier League financial breaches

Manchester City have been found guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules.

The verdict was announced on Tuesday, 29 September 2026. An independent commission ruled against the club on all charges relating to the most serious alleged breaches, and on all but one charge of failing to co-operate with the investigation BBC.

The charges covered nine seasons, from 2009-10 to 2017-18 RTE. The Premier League first referred the club for alleged rule breaches in February 2023. That referral led to a long hearing process and now to this ruling.

The commission found that City arranged "sham" commercial deals with a number of sponsors Premier League. In plain terms, sponsorship money was presented as independent income when much of it came from the club's own owners. The numbers are stark. Inflated revenue and understated costs totalled more than £900 million over nearly a decade Reuters.

At the centre was what the ruling calls a disguised funding scheme. Sponsorship deals were split in two. There was a base fee, the amount actually paid by the sponsor. Then there was a tagged sum, the extra amount paid by the club's owners but booked as sponsorship.

Between 2009-10 and 2017-18, City's commercial income from sponsors totalled £949.94m. Only £119.25m of that was base fees. The remaining £830.69m was tagged sums. The ruling says the scheme hid more than £830m of sponsorship funding, with other devices hiding a further £90m in expenses.

The ruling sets that spending in context. City were bought by Abu Dhabi investors in 2008. By the 2009-10 season, the owners knew major overspends would be needed to reach their desired level. Projected losses for that campaign alone were set to pass the then-record £140m single-season loss posted by Chelsea in 2006.

The detail runs to 40 pages. The word matters. The word "sham" appears eight times.

City responded shortly after the Premier League announcement, saying the club are "innocent of the accusations," according to a statement reported by The Athletic.

For fans, this means the long wait for a decision is over but the story is not finished. Guilt on these charges is now established. What follows, in terms of any sanction or appeal, will shape how this is remembered across the league.