Manchester City found guilty of over 100 financial violations in blockbuster case

Manchester City FC have reportedly been found guilty by an independent panel appointed by the chairman of the Premier League’s judicial committee of 114 of 115 charges relating to the way the club financed sponsorship deals, paid its managers and players. The affair first came to light in February 2023, after a four-year investigation into the club’s financial dealings, which began with a handful of incriminating emails leaked to European media.

The club plays in the English Premier League, which over the past 15 years has become one of the most prestigious and popular sports leagues in the world.

I will say straight away that I am an Arsenal fan; Arsenal are one of City’s biggest rivals and the current reigning Premier League champions. Nowadays, kids all over the world wear Premier League club jerseys. You’ve no doubt seen the jerseys of Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and, yes, Manchester City at almost every football match.

“The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be finalized and subject to strict confidentiality. As such, Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s February 2023 statement,” City told The Athletic in a statement.

Andrew Fox, senior member of London’s Henry Jackson Society (and fan of Premier League club Aston Villa), told FOX Business: “This has been a long time coming and the credibility of the entire Premier League depends on what happens next. This is the biggest scandal in the history of English football, and Manchester City must face the harshest punishment if the league is to restore its shattered integrity.”

City’s haul of titles has been stellar since being bought by majority owner Sheikh Mansour of the United Arab Emirates in 2008, under the management of the City Football Group. Before that, they last won the Premier League (then called the First Division) in the 1967-68 season. Since then, he has won eight league titles as well as a record full of other cup victories.

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Josko Gvardiol, Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland and Rodri of Manchester City celebrate the second goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Etihad Stadium on May 4, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

The recent history of the Premier League can be divided into a sort of BC-AD following this takeover. Before 2008, Manchester City’s Cityzens were mostly the ‘noisy neighbors’ of their more successful rivals, the Manchester United Red Devils. After that, there was a garish crop of trophies as the club built a football empire that spanned the globe.

On the business side, by 2009, Manchester City was securing massive sponsorship deals, attracting the world’s best players and managers, and moving from an equally famous player to a feared juggernaut. The 115 financial charges relate to this period, from 2009 to 2018, precisely when Manchester City’s rise began and it won several league titles and several tournament trophies. He went on to win the biggest prize in world club football – the UEFA Champions League – in 2023.

The financial shenanigans that Manchester City have been found guilty of are therefore significant. On the one hand, City owns New York City FC, which plays in America’s top soccer league – Major League Soccer – alongside clubs from Spain, France, Belgium, Brazil and even China – a true global empire. On the other hand, players move between leagues every summer and winter, and players that City have bought by breaking the rules affect other clubs where those players might otherwise have played.

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Manchester City players celebrate after winning the Emirates FA Cup final match between Chelsea and Manchester City on May 16, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

As early as 2003, Arsène Wenger, then boss of Arsenal, explained this as only “The Professor” could: “financial doping”. Think of it like the Lance Armstrong affair. He cheated through doping and won several titles that others competed with him to win. He robbed competitors of titles they could have won. His cheating was, like City’s, systemic. This has corrupted the sport itself.

Manchester City’s accusations carry the same weight. They affect not only titles won by the club, but also titles others have not won, final places, which in turn affect other competitions clubs qualify for, including the Champions League, and even relegation to the next league. So it is more than fair to say that City’s actions have had an impact on every other club in England, as well as the players and managers of those clubs, and their careers. And clubs and players from all over the world.

It’s easy to say that sports don’t really matter, but they do. We love them. We like to debate it. We like to tear our team apart after defeats and praise them after victories. Besides entertainment, it’s big business. Fans pay for tickets and merchandise and spend their valuable time watching matches and supporting them in other ways, networks pay for broadcast rights and the Premier League is a truly global league. Its games are broadcast live in the United States, throughout Europe and around the world.

According to DeloitteManchester City generates over $800 million in revenue, putting it above all other domestic competitors, but one and the most global.

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Erling Haaland, Pep Guardiola, Rodri, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, OMar Marmoush, Jeremy Doku and Gianluigi Donnarumma of Manchester City celebrate with the trophy after winning the Emirates FA Cup final match between Chelsea and Manchester City on Ma (Photo by Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

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The 114 financial violations case is bigger than the recent Los Angeles Clippers case. In fact, it is arguably the largest sports cheating case ever known.

Like the Armstrong affair, which shook the entire sport of cycling down to the local team and the bike shop, the City affair lasted for years and seasons, and its actions reverberated throughout the sport.

So what should happen? Sanctions have not yet been decided and City will appeal the verdict. Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from competitive sports for life.

As Fox noted above, City should face the harshest penalty possible, assuming their expected appeals fail. There are recent precedents on this side of the Atlantic. Everton and Nottingham Forest were both found guilty of singular breaches of the rules and had points deducted. Chelsea self-reported violations by previous owners and faced relatively light sanctions for opening. Manchester City have denied all accusations and fought every step of the way, and the UAE government has even denounced the British government in this matter.

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Relegation one or two leagues behind? Expulsion from the English Football League itself? Financial penalties? Titles removed?

Everything is on the table. So is the integrity of the sport.

Fairness in sports matters.