On Friday 25th September 2026, Premier league power club Manchester City were declared to be found guilty in 114 of the 115 charges, over breaches of its financial rules, sending shockwaves across the footballing world.
Following a four-year investigation, City were charged and the hearing finally got under way on 16 September 2024. After two years Manchester City are now completely in the dock with the panel finding them guilty on all but one charge.
City have appealed the decision however if the charges are upheld City now face a precarious future with heavy fines, transfer bans, points deductions, expulsion from the Premier league and relegation all on the table.
The charges can be broken down into five categories and relate to a period from 2009-23 in which City won six League Cups, three FA Cups, seven league titles and the Champions League.
Of the 115 charges:
• Fifty-four were for failing to provide accurate financial information from 2009-10 to 2017-18
• Fourteen were for failing to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from the same period
• Five were for failing to comply with Uefa’s rules from 2013-14 to 2017-18
• Seven were for breaching Premier League profitability and sustainability rules from 2015-16 to 2017-18
• Thirty-five were for failing to co-operate with the investigation from 2018-23.
The problems do not end here for City as its Premier league rivals are now expected to move in to claim damages. Many Premier League sides that believe they were potentially impacted negatively in a massive way by City’s actions now want repercussions to follow. As per The Athletic these teams are now readying legal action against Manchester City with one scenario seeing all those impacted coming together to form a class action suit.
A spokesperson from City elaborated on the current situation: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC’s position remains consistent with the club’s statement of February 2023.
The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”
Titles to be Taken away? City to be relegated?
The Premier league club Manchester City is considered as one of the foremost competitors in Europe currently and the most dominating team in England in the past decade, accumulating almost every title possible.
Founded over a century ago in Manchester, it is one of the oldest clubs in England, although their successes have been few and far between over the years. However the clubs fortunes changed dramatically on 1 September 2008, when Abu Dhabi-based Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed the takeover of Manchester City.
Since 2009, the club been managed and controlled by its rich new owners the City Football Group led by UAE’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who is simply referred to as Sheikh Mansour, the City owner is an Emirati royal and politician who is a current vice president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.
Bankrolled by the new billionaire ownership Manchester City began competing and recruiting some of the best players and coaches in the game. Eventually winning every domestic title and finally even acquiring the Champions League totalling 20 titles under the ownership.
However, now all of those title wins have come under scrutiny as Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are all said to be contesting for the City league titles to be stripped and awarded to them. At least four major clubs (including Liverpool and Manchester United) have preserved their rights to claim compensation where total claims could exceed £200 million.
The charges are too many and with Premier league clubs now joining in with their legal teams City could end up being given a huge point deduction that will almost ensure their relegation or they may be Relegated as a punishment itself.
The Everton precedent and Italian calciopoli scandal similarities
In 2023–24, after their first PSR breach Premier league club Everton were initially given a 10-point deduction for breaching the PSRs for the period ending 2021/22. On appeal, that was reduced to 6 points. In a second PSR breach Everton were subsequently given another 2-point deduction for the period ending 2022/23. Everton withdrew their appeal, so the two-point deduction stood.
In June 2026, an independent Premier League commission ordered Everton to pay Burnley approximately £35m in compensation, consisting of about £26m principal plus £9.1m interest (with further interest accruing). The commission found that Everton’s PSR breach gave them a sporting advantage that contributed to Burnley’s relegation in 2021–22.
This case is a direct precedent over the seriousness and devastating repercussions of such judgements. City’s case comparatively is far bigger and is expected to cost them charges far greater than the Everton case.
Another major scandal people will have a look at is the massive Calciopoli Italian Scandal case in 2006 where match manipulations through rigged officiating were found ito be done in favour of Juventus.
After a massive investigation the most decorated and most domestically sucessful Italian club Juventus was relegated to the second division with a massive points penalty, their titles stripped. Other clubs like Regina, Florentino, Ac Milan, Lazio And Arezzo were found guilty as well, all of them receiving massive point penalties.
This scandal is another precedent where even a historic and massive entity like Juventus could not escape estremely severe punishments losing not only their place in the league but also their titles. Many feel that City is currently too big and its relegation may hurt the Premier League so it may not happen, however the Juventus case shows no club is too big to fall.
Exodus of players, Haaland to leave?
A peculiar thing that has happened this summer was the sudden exodus of a huge portion of the Manchester City squad, players who have been here for years like Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Ake, Stones, Akanji along with their legendary coach Pep Guardiola who opted to remain jobless than carry on at Manchester City.
If City are handed a relegation or a point deduction that could inevitably lead to a relegation expect a stream of players to exit the club. When Juventus were relegated the majority of its star names opted to leave and join different clubs than stay on and this could be repeated at City.
Haaland is one of the Premier strikers in the world and a host of clubs including Barcelona and Real Madrid are expected to enter the race if he’s on the market. Other players like Doku, Guehi, Gvardiol, Cherki etc may also be on the way out as many of these stars would not want to languish in the second division.
For now Manchester City will contest these charges but it is quite difficult to expect they will be able to clear 114 of them. It is now a club in major turmoil the media has its eyes on evry moment of this case, the public is largely incensed and its Premier league rivals will in turn leave no stone unturned to fight for what they feel is right. These charges have loomed long over the Manchester club and now it is perhaps time for a very harsh reckoning.
