▲ Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola (right) and Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak during the 2024 EPL championship parade
The Premier League (EPL) has officially announced that Manchester City manipulated its financial status through "false" contracts, violating financial regulations for nearly a decade.
According to major foreign media outlets including Reuters, the EPL stated that an independent commission investigating the matter found Manchester City guilty of all financial regulation breach charges spanning nine seasons from 2009-2010 to 2017-2018, as well as three out of four charges related to non-cooperation with the investigation.
This official confirmation from the EPL comes four days after The Athletic reported on the 25th, citing an anonymous source, that Manchester City had been found guilty of most charges.
The independent commission determined that Manchester City distorted actual agreements with multiple commercial partners through "false" contracts to inflate revenues and artificially reduce costs.
Some sponsors paid only a portion of the amounts listed in the contracts, while the remainder was covered by the club's owner, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG).
Manchester City also recorded operating expenses lower than the actual figures in its books through separate arrangements where ADUG funded the amounts.
The amounts inflated or reduced through these methods exceed 900 million pounds (approximately 1.6 trillion won).
Revenues were inflated by over 830 million pounds, image rights income was overstated by approximately 74 million pounds, and liabilities related to employee contracts were understated by about 17 million pounds.
The commission concluded that had Manchester City reported accurately, it would have "substantially exceeded the spending limits of the EPL and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)."
The commission also determined that during the 42-day hearing, several witnesses for Manchester City gave false testimony, and some knowingly misled the commission.
Richard Masters, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the EPL, stated, "This disciplinary case and decision, detailing how Manchester City systematically breached EPL regulations for nearly a decade, is the most significant in the history of the EPL."
He added, "Now that the commission's decision has been rendered, we will swiftly proceed with the remaining procedures to provide certainty to the league, the clubs, and the fans."
The level of sanctions has not yet been determined.
Under EPL regulations, penalties can range from points deductions and fines to expulsion from the league.
Manchester City released a statement saying, "The club is innocent of the charges brought by the EPL, and there is a vast body of irrefutable evidence supporting all of the club's positions regarding this case," adding that it will appeal.
Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City, also stated in a video sent to employees, "The entire EPL case is based on a single false claim that the owner's personal money secretly entered the club through several Abu Dhabi sponsors," countering that "this is not true."
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy urged a swift and fair conclusion, stating, "This is extremely serious. The EPL report is very stark."
Previously, Everton and Nottingham Forest faced points deductions during the 2023-2024 season for single instances of financial regulation breaches.
If the same standards are applied to the more than 100 charges brought against Manchester City, the likelihood of relegation for the club appears high.
Since being acquired in 2008 by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Manchester City has won 8 EPL titles, 4 FA Cups, and 7 League Cups over the past 15 years, and reached the pinnacle of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 2023.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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