Manchester City were found guilty of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules during a nine-season period, with the club announcing it would appeal the landmark ruling.
An independent commission on Tuesday found City committed breaches between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, including arranging “sham” contracts with commercial partners, misstating accounts and concealing the true state of their finances from auditors and football regulators.
It found the arrangements artificially increased revenues and reduced costs by more than $1.2 billion, allowing the club to appear compliant with financial regulations. It concluded City would otherwise have substantially breached Premier League and UEFA spending limits.
City were also found to have breached their obligations to cooperate with the Premier League investigation, with three of four related allegations upheld. The commission said the club had made efforts to frustrate the investigation.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters described the case as the most significant disciplinary proceeding in the competition’s history, saying the findings established that City had systematically broken rules for nearly a decade.
A sanction has not yet been determined and will be considered at a separate hearing. Premier League rules allow penalties including fines, points deductions and other sporting sanctions.
Manchester City said they were “disappointed and surprised” by the ruling and maintained their innocence, arguing that the decision contained “clear material errors” of law, principle and fact.
The club confirmed it would pursue available appeal avenues. It has until Oct. 2 to formally challenge the findings.
