Man City found guilty over £900m ‘sham’ deals: appeal first, sanctions later

Independent commission says sham arrangements inflated revenue and cut reported costs by more than £900m; City says it will appeal.

Manchester City face the most consequential disciplinary process in Premier League history after an independent commission found the club guilty of serious financial-rule breaches across nine seasons, from 2009-10 to 2017-18.

The Premier League said the commission concluded that City used sham commercial arrangements and other devices to make its finances appear compliant with the competition’s rules. The schemes were found to have artificially increased revenue and reduced costs by more than £900 million over the period. The club has said it will appeal the ruling; no sporting punishment has yet been imposed.

The ruling is not a judgment on the quality of City’s football, its supporters or the scale of its modern success. It is a finding about whether a club competing under shared financial rules gave a true account of how it was funded and what it spent. That distinction now sits at the heart of an argument that will run far beyond the tribunal room.

What the commission found

According to the Premier League’s September 29 statement, City arranged contracts with commercial partners that did not reflect the real terms of the agreements. The commission found that sponsors were required to pay only part of the stated fee, while the remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), the club’s owner during the period.

It also found that further arrangements reduced recorded operating costs and that a circular arrangement involving Fordham, which bought players’ image rights, was funded by ADUG. In the commission’s view, the purpose was not merely aggressive accounting: it was to make the club appear to meet Premier League and UEFA spending limits when, if the agreements had been accurately recorded, it would have exceeded them by a substantial margin.

The league said City filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from auditors and football regulators. The commission also upheld three of four alleged failures to co-operate with the Premier League investigation, finding that the club made concerted efforts to frustrate it.

That makes the case broader than the shorthand of “115 charges.” The important findings concern the financial picture presented to regulators over nearly a decade, the source and treatment of commercial money, and the club’s conduct once the inquiry began.

Appeal first, sanctions later

City has indicated it will challenge the verdict. Sky Sports reports the club has until October 2 to lodge an appeal. The sanctions stage is separate and will return to the independent commission after the appeal process. Possible penalties discussed by broadcasters and legal observers include a fine, points deduction, transfer restrictions or, at the most severe end, expulsion; none of those outcomes has been decided.

For that reason, claims that titles will automatically be removed or reassigned are premature. The Premier League has confirmed the core findings, but it has not announced a penalty or a timetable for its final disciplinary outcome. The proper next question is not which punishment social media prefers, but what sanction the commission considers proportionate after the appeal route is exhausted.

The City argument: greatness, scale and a global audience

City supporters understandably point to the club that exists on the pitch: a side that has set standards for possession football, recruited elite talent and built a worldwide following. The Abu Dhabi era changed the club’s sporting and commercial position dramatically, producing league titles, a Champions League and a global network around the City Football Group.

That achievement is reflected in major valuation studies, although the figures need care. Football Benchmark’s 2026 European Elite report puts Manchester City’s enterprise value at €5.102 billion, third in its ranking, and its squad value at €1.348 billion. Forbes values the club at $5.5 billion, seventh among football teams in its 2026 list. Neither source supports the circulating claim that City is the world’s top club at €3.873 billion; valuations vary by method, and the number should not be presented as a settled fact.

Those figures help explain why City matters to the league’s global appeal. They do not answer the regulatory question. A club can be commercially powerful, play outstanding football and still be required to show that its reported income and costs comply with the same rules as everyone else.

The rival view: integrity is the product

For rival fans, the verdict is a test of whether the Premier League can protect competitive balance after years in which City became the dominant force in English football. Their case is not that the league needs City less, but that it cannot make financial rules optional for its biggest brands. The Premier League was a global competition before City’s rise; its commercial strength rests partly on the belief that results are contested within a common framework.

That sentiment does not erase City’s achievements or the loyalty of its fans. It does, however, explain why the eventual sanction will be scrutinised more closely than any normal disciplinary decision. A light penalty risks convincing critics that wealth buys tolerance. An extreme one would bring its own fight over fairness, timing and the knock-on effect on players, staff and supporters.

A ruling that changes the conversation

The commission’s core decision establishes findings of fact; the appeal and sanction phases will determine its lasting football consequences. City will have the chance to contest the outcome. The Premier League will have to show that its response matches the seriousness of the conduct found. Other clubs will be watching for consistency.

For now, the real story is not a slogan about a club being too big to punish or too successful to question. It is that English football’s most prominent financial case has moved from allegation to a guilty finding — and the hardest part, deciding what that means in the table, the record books and the league’s credibility, is still ahead.