October 6, 2026
Manchester City is locked in a legal and financial dispute with the English Premier League, against the backdrop of being accused of providing inaccurate data related to its revenues and expenses, violating spending rules, as well as not cooperating with investigations. The case covers several files, including sponsorship revenues and payments made to players and coaches.
The roots of the crisis go back to 2018, after the German magazine “Der Spiegel” published documents leaked by the “Football Leaks” network that raised suspicions about the club’s funding sources, prompting the League to launch an official investigation in December of the same year.
The conflict took two main paths: European and local. On the European level, in 2020, the European Football Association (UEFA) issued a decision to exclude Manchester City from European competitions for two seasons, before the Court of Arbitration for Sport canceled the penalty due to the lack of proof of some accusations and the statute of limitations on others. On the other hand, the English Premier League continued its investigations, and on February 6, 2023, referred the club to an independent committee to look into more than 100 alleged violations.
On September 29, 2026, the League announced that the club was found guilty of financial violations. The results of the investigations showed that a number of sponsors paid only part of the value of their contracts, while the company that owns the club covered the remaining part. The committee estimated the total impact of increasing revenues and reducing recorded expenses at more than 900 million pounds sterling, during nine seasons extending between 2009 and 2018.
For its part, Manchester City rejected these results and maintained its innocence, considering that the decision was marred by fundamental legal and factual errors. The club filed an appeal on October 1, while potential penalties were being discussed during a separate session, which kept the outcome of the case pending pending a final resolution.
In a related context, a report by The Times newspaper highlighted the importance of auditing sponsorship funds, pointing to two financial payments with a total value of 30 million pounds sterling in 2012 and 2013 linked to the sponsorship of Etisalat. The newspaper pointed out that there is a contradiction between the club’s explanation of the source of this money before UEFA and its current defense before the League.
Funding sources are of great importance due to their direct impact on the accounts. Recording the owner’s contributions as a commercial return changes the way regulatory authorities measure the club’s actual ability to spend, which links the dispute to the identity of the actual payer, the method of restricting funds, and the amount of information available to auditors.
If the conviction is upheld, the League will face serious questions about the efficiency of its oversight system and how these practices continue for many years. Accountability comes after completing deals and winning championships, while protecting the integrity of competition imposes the necessity of discovering the defect early to limit its effects.
