Man City lodge appeal after guilty finding in financial breach scandal

Manchester City have filed an appeal against an independent commission’s ruling that found the club guilty of ⁠serious breaches of the ⁠Premier League’s financial rules as it seeks to overturn the decision and avoid potentially severe sanctions.

The league said on Tuesday that City had used “sham” commercial contracts as part of schemes to inflate revenue and ⁠understate costs by more than 900 million pounds ($1.19bn) over nearly a decade.

City were found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the league’s financial rules over nine seasons from 2009-2010 to 2017-2018 as well as three out of ⁠four charges concerning failures to cooperate with the investigation.

The club has denied wrongdoing throughout the process.

“Manchester City Football Club can confirm that at 7pm on Thursday 1st October 2026 the Club lodged its comprehensive Appeal against the opinion of the Premier League Commission, in relation to the Premier League disciplinary matter,” the club said in a statement on Friday.

“The Club’s firm position ‌is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe.

“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case.”

The appeal will be heard by an independent three-member appeal board appointed by the chairperson of the league’s Judicial Panel.

“The club lodged the appeal to the Chair of the Judicial Panel,” the league said in a statement. “The independent Appeal Board hearing will ⁠remain private and confidential until publication of the outcome is permitted.”

The Premier League’s rules ⁠state that a hearing should be held within 12 weeks of an appeal being lodged with a decision due within 30 days of the hearing concluding.

The appeal will take place in private, as did the original hearings. The board will review the commission’s decision but ⁠will not conduct a full rehearing of the case.

The board may dismiss the appeal, allow it, refer the case back to the commission for further consideration, or alter any ⁠sanction or compensation order imposed.

A decision by the appeal board is ⁠final and cannot be challenged further except in limited circumstances that permit a subsequent arbitration process.

According to the Premier League, potential sanctions against City could be a reprimand, fine, suspension, points deduction or, in the worst case, expulsion from the competition. No team has ever been expelled from English football’s top flight.

City ‌can also separately appeal against any sanctions.

It remains unclear whether sanctions would be announced before the appeal is heard and whether they would take effect immediately.

A league representative told the Reuters news agency they could not discuss the process for confidentiality ‌reasons.

While ‌the case remains unresolved, the season will continue with leaders City looking for their sixth straight league win when they visit Liverpool on October 11.

Source of sponsorship could be focus in appeal

City is likely to focus part of its appeal around the issue of how its Abu Dhabi-based sponsorship deals were funded.

The commission found that sponsors in Abu Dhabi paid only 119.25 million pounds ($158.4m) of the 949.94 million pounds ($1.26bn) stated in club accounts with the remaining 830.69 million pounds ($1.1bn) being paid by the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), the private company of Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which bought City in 2008.

Mansour is a member of the United Arab Emirates’s ruling family.

City contended that “no part” of the deals was funded by the ADUG and, instead, the Abu Dhabi government, which owned the sponsors, had helped to fund the deals “from time to time”. And so in City’s opinion, that source of extra funding was misunderstood, the commission wrote.

The panel rejected that explanation by City as untrue, concluding it was “concocted well after the event” to disguise the source of the funding.

In an internal video to City staff obtained by broadcaster Sky News, City CEO Ferran Soriano said: “The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation: that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true.”

On Friday, the Football Association (FA), the governing body of football in England, expressed concern that the scandal has affected the “integrity” of the game.

In its first reaction to the case, the FA said: “The independent commission’s decision has significant implications for the integrity of the game. We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate.”

The FA added that it would “continue to monitor developments closely” and would not comment further because proceedings were ongoing.