Manchester City: Independent commission finds massive financial violations

It is a document that could change the history of English football. The now published judgment of the independent Premier League Commission comprises 40 pages. The content: Manchester City was found guilty on almost all charges. The judges paint a picture of a football club that is said to have concealed its true financial situation for years.

The most explosive allegation: According to the verdict, City set up a “disguised financing system” to make owner money from Abu Dhabi appear as sponsorship income. The verdict literally states: “The club developed a plan to disguise owner money as commercial sponsorship income.”

According to the Commission's findings, sponsorship contracts were concluded in which the alleged sponsors often only paid a part of the agreed sum. According to the judgment, the rest came from the owner company ADUG. The money still appeared in the club's books as regular sponsorship income.

The number that appears in the judgment is particularly harsh: According to this, City reported sponsorship income of around 950 million pounds (over one billion euros) between 2009 and 2018. In fact, only a good £119 million of this came from the sponsors themselves. More than £830 million was actually owner money.

The judges repeatedly refer to “sham contracts” and come to the conclusion that those responsible deliberately wanted to avoid the Premier League rules. The verdict literally states: “Through its conduct, the club clearly intended to circumvent the rules of the Premier League.”

Man City is said to have torpedoed the investigation

The financial fair play rules of UEFA and the Premier League were also violated. The commission comes to the conclusion that without these constructions, City would have “far exceeded” the respective financial limits.

There is also another serious accusation. The judges found that City had taken actions during the investigation to obstruct the Premier League's investigation. The commission writes: “The club made a coordinated effort to stop and obstruct the Premier League investigation.”

It is still unclear what punishment will follow. But that's exactly why title revocations are now being discussed in England. Not only the three championships in the period directly examined would be affected. Critics argue that the allegedly illegally created financial basis also made City's later dominance possible. That's why seven championship titles are now under scrutiny.

Manchester City has already announced an appeal and rejects all allegations. But if the verdict stands, this report could go down in history - as the document that brought down an entire football era.