Manchester City, the British tax authorities investigated the club's accounts

Already in 2018 the British tax authorities had opened an investigation into Manchester City to verify whether the club had used complex corporate structures to reduce its tax burden. This was reported by the Financial Times, according to which the investigation by the government department of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) began after the publication, at the end of 2018, of confidential emails from the club by the German weekly Der Spiegel.

According to sources cited by the newspaper, the investigation did not involve allegations of intentional fraud and was never formally closed. HMRC, however, took no action against Manchester City. The British tax administration, contacted by international media, refused to comment, citing taxpayer confidentiality. The affair is part of the wider financial scandal involving City. An independent commission recently found the club guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018, alleging that some transactions artificially inflated revenues and reduced costs by more than £900 million, around €1.1 billion.

Manchester City have appealed and no sanction has yet been decided. However, the club risks a heavy penalty in the standings, a fine and, in the most serious scenario, exclusion from the Premier League. Purchased in 2008 by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, City have since won eight English titles and a Champions League. The allegations now risk tarnishing one of Abu Dhabi's key "soft power" tools in the UK.