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Manchester City overstated its revenue by £854.5 million and understated its expenses by a further £66.2 million over a nine-year period, according to findings from an independent commission examining the Premier League’s financial charges against the club.
The two figures amount to £920.7 million, giving a clearer measure of the financial adjustments identified in the case than the Premier League’s description of the amount as more than £900 million.
The commission found that Manchester City had submitted misstated financial information and that arrangements involving commercial income were used to present a stronger financial position than the club’s underlying accounts reflected.
The findings cover the period from the 2009/10 to 2017/18 seasons, following the club’s takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008.
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£854.5m revenue overstatement
The largest component of the findings relates to revenue.
According to the commission, City overstated its revenue by £854.5 million during the period under review. The Premier League said the arrangements included “sham” commercial deals that artificially increased the club’s reported income.
- For a football club subject to financial spending limits, the significance of reported revenue goes beyond the income statement.
- Higher commercial revenue can increase the financial capacity available to a club under rules that assess whether its spending is sustainable relative to its income.
- The commission therefore found that the arrangements were intended to circumvent Premier League financial regulations by making City’s financial position appear stronger than it was.
- City was also found to have understated its expenses by £66.2 million.
Taken together, the revenue and cost adjustments identified by the commission total £920.7 million.
Financial reporting at centre of dispute
The Premier League said the commission concluded that City had “filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances” from its auditors and football regulators.
The findings concern financial information that clubs were required to provide to the Premier League, particularly information relating to revenue, sponsorship income, related-party transactions and operating costs. The league’s original charges covered the 2009/10 through 2017/18 seasons.
This distinction is important because the case is not simply about the size of Manchester City’s commercial income.
The commission’s findings concern whether the income and expenses reported to the Premier League accurately represented the underlying financial transactions and whether those figures were used to demonstrate compliance with the rules.
The club has consistently rejected the allegations.
Manchester City to appeal findings
- The club said it had provided evidence supporting its position and argued that the commission’s opinion contained material errors of law, principle and fact.
- Man CIty is expected to appeal the findings, meaning the commission’s decision does not bring the case to a final conclusion.
- The club’s position is that sponsorship income was paid by the sponsors and that the evidence presented during the proceedings supports its accounting and commercial arrangements.
The appeal will determine whether the findings are upheld, amended or otherwise affected through the next stage of the regulatory process.
The Sanctions have not been decided
The financial findings also do not amount to an immediate sporting punishment.
- The Premier League said the commission will hold a further hearing to determine the sanctions arising from the breaches.
- That leaves potentially significant financial and sporting consequences still to be settled.
- The case relates to rules in force during the period under investigation. The Premier League has since replaced its Profitability and Sustainability Rules with a new financial framework, comprising the Squad Cost Ratio and Sustainability and Systemic Resilience rules, from the beginning of the 2026/27 season.
Under the new system, the league limits clubs’ on-pitch spending to a defined proportion of football-related revenue, while separate tests examine areas including liquidity and the strength of a club’s balance sheet.
Why the £920.7m figure matters
The scale of the adjustment is central to the case because Manchester City’s commercial growth has been a major feature of its transformation since the 2008 takeover.
The club moved from a team outside the established group of Premier League title contenders to one of the competition’s dominant commercial and sporting businesses.
- Manchester City has won eight Premier League titles since the takeover.
- The commission’s findings now put part of the financial foundation of that growth under regulatory scrutiny for the nine seasons covered by the case.
- The £920.7 million figure should not, however, be interpreted as a £920.7 million cash payment, loss or fine. It represents the combined value of revenue that the commission found had been overstated and expenses it found had been understated across the affected period.
- The eventual financial cost to Manchester City, if any, will depend on the sanctions imposed after the next stage of the proceedings and the outcome of any appeal.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters described the case as the most significant disciplinary case in the competition’s history, while stressing that elements of the proceedings, including the appropriate sanction, remain outstanding.
For Manchester City, the immediate focus is now the appeal process. For the Premier League, the next stage is determining the consequences of findings that it says show the club systematically breached its financial rules over almost a decade.
