Manchester City’s trial into their 115 charges for allegedly breaching the Premier League’s financial rules is expected to get underway on Monday, September 16 according to ESPN.
The independent hearing is anticipated to last approximately two months although the verdict is not expected to be made public until spring 2025 at the earliest, according to reports.
City have been accused of financial impropriety spanning nine years from 2009 and the sternest punishment if found guilty is relegation. Points deductions and fines are also potential penalties.
Reports initially implied that the trial date would be later in the year, however there was a push by both Manchester City and the Premier League to bring the trial date forward, resulting in the mid-September date.
Ahead of the unprecedented trial which is set to shake up England’s top-flight division and could potentially see the four-in-a-row Premier League champions exiled to the Championship, Mail Sport have broken down the 115 charges Pep Guardiola’s side are faced with.
Manchester City face 115 charges of FFP rules and regulations breaches
City have already been investigated for their dealings from 2019 to 2023, where they were forced to pay an £8.6m fine for the findings
The trial is expected to get underway on Monday, September 16 according to reports
Manchester City 115 FFP Charges
Manchester City have been charged with a staggering 115 charges of breaking FFP rules during a nine year period.
The time period stretches back to 2009 all the way to 2018. The full 115 charge list was revealed in a Premier League statement in February 2023.
All the charges faced by Manchester City are serious and if they are proved to have broken all or some of these charges, serious repercussions should be expected.
The charges against the club will be investigated, reviewed and analysed by an independent commission.
Charges explained
Of the 115 charges, City are facing 54 allegations of a failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information to the league from 2009-10 to 2017-18.
This allows the FFP a ‘true and fair’ view of a club’s revenue which includes sponsorship deals and their operating cost, which involve player salaries.
Every club in the Premier League signs up to a code of compliance, which essentially translates to clubs agreeing to behave themselves and provide the league with accurate and up-to-date accounts that are expected to be audited each year.
Over the past few years City have been accused of inflating the value of their sponsorships which are connected to their owners.
They are also facing 14 charges for a failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation for those seasons.
The Manchester outfit are also facing 35 charges for failures to comply with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to the present day.
All of City’s 115 charges were first reported by German outlet, Der Spiegel.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola (pictured second from left) with club owners Sheikh Mansour (pictured right)
Charges include not being truthful about compensation offered to previous managers and players after they departed the club
Timeline of the 115 charges coming to light
November 2018: German media, Der Spiegel outlet publish several articles accusing Manchester City of breaching FFP rules March 2019: UEFA launch a formal investigation following Der Spiegel’s publicationsMay 2019: Manchester City criticises the investigation and begin an appeal processNovember 2018: CAS grant Manchester City’s appeal, claiming UEFA’s showed a lack of decisionFebruary 2020: UEFA announces that Manchester City will face a two-year ban from all European competition and issue a £28.6m fineJuly 2020: Manchester City appeal ban and see it lifted – only have to pay £8.9m fine February 2023: The Premier League charge Manchester City with over 115 breaches of FFP rules and regulations Autumn 2024: Manchester City’s FFP trial is set to begin in mid-SeptemberSpring/Summer 2025: A verdict of Manchester City’s 115 charges is expected to be reached
A verdict of Manchester City’s 115 charges isn’t expected until Spring/Summer 2025
Trial and potential punishments
The legal trial between Manchester City and the Premier League is set to get underway this September, 2024.
The trial will be heard in private as the Premier League rule regarding FFP breaches states that any ruling before an independent commission will be held in private and will be strictly confidential.
As the trial is to take place behind closed doors, it means Media outlets will learn no knowledge of the case until a final verdict is revealed by the Premier League.
Therefore the media will learn of the ruling at the same time as everybody else.
In relation to punishments, the current legislation has eight potential punishments for a club who have been found to of breached FFP rules.
Like any form of punishment, some are a lot more severe than others, with one essentially being a slap of the wrist and others being detrimental to the club’s future.
Both City and the Premier League have the option of appealing against any verdict — although not to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the body who overturned City’s UEFA ban in 2020.
Managing director of the Premier League, Richard Masters (pictured) has been central to the case
If found to have breached any of FFP’s rules City could face one of a potential eight punishments
Eight FFP punishments:
A formal warning Fines (amount depending on severity of breach)Points deduction (amount depending on severity of breach)Refusal of revenue from UEFA competitionsProhibiting clubs to register new players to their squads for UEFA competitions A limit of the amount of players that can be registered in a club’s squad for UEFA competitionsDisqualification from an ongoing UEFA competitionExclusion from future UEFA competitions
Guardiola pictured with City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak (left) after last season’s title win
Manchester City separate legal case against the Premier League
City — who declined to comment — deny wrongdoing and launched a separate legal case against the Premier League
According to The Times, the Etihad outfit are looking to end the league’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, which they claim are unlawful.
The rules – introduced in December 2021 – are designed to maintain competitiveness by preventing top-flight clubs from inflating commercial deals with companies linked to their owners.
However, inside a 165-page legal document, City claim that the rules have been approved by rivals to stifle their success on the pitch as a ‘tyranny of the majority’.
The club have accused rivals of ‘discrimination against Gulf ownership’ – after the rules were implemented shortly after Newcastle United’s Saudi takeover.
Rival clubs claim that City’s appeal could destroy the competitiveness of the English top-flight, as it would allow rich clubs to spend an unlimited amount on playing squads and infrastructure.
If the league champions are successful in their hearing, it could allow the league’s richest clubs to value sponsorship deals without needing independent assessment.