Premier League confirms Man City guilty of serious financial breaches

Manchester City face severe sanctions after being found guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period. Abu Dhabi-backed City were found to have arranged "sham" contracts with a number of commercial partners to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion) between 2009 and 2018. In doing so they concealed the true state of their finances and avoided breaches of Premier League and UEFA spending limits as a result.

An independent commission also found the club guilty on the majority of charges in relation to their failure to co-operate with the league's investigation. No sanction has yet been imposed and City said they will appeal against the decision. But the ruling will send shockwaves through English football, with City's place in the Premier League now at risk and questions over whether titles could be stripped.

"The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade," Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in a statement on Tuesday. "This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history.

"Now we have the commission's decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the league, our clubs and fans." The commission found City arranged commercial deals whereby companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees. The remainder was funded by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan's Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development (ADUG), which owned the club. Further arrangements, funded by ADUG, enabled the club to record lower operating expenses than they actually incurred.

As a result, City failed to accurately report income and expenditure for the purposes of the Premier League and UEFA's financial sustainability rules. The scheme was found to have inflated revenue by more than £830 million, while income from image rights was over-stated by almost £74 million, with liabilities for staff contracts under-stated by nearly £17 million. The commission found they would have breached spending limits "by a very substantial amount" if City had reported accurately.

City set to appeal In addition, City were foun…