Manchester City · the Commission's decision
What an independent Premier League Commission found against Manchester City, charge by charge, in plain language. Every line comes from the published decision or the League's own statement. Where something isn't decided yet, it says so.
Updated 30 September 2026 · Manchester City denied every charge throughout the proceedings and have the right to appeal.
Liability
DecidedThe Commission found every charge proven except one, Charge 4(B). The League published a redacted core decision on 29 September 2026.
Sanction
Not decidedHandled separately, in a further hearing with the same Commission. No penalty has been set, and none is guessed at on this page.
Appeal
OpenCity have until Friday 2 October 2026 to appeal the Commission's findings.
The Commission found that most of City's deals with Abu Dhabi sponsors did not work the way the paperwork said. The sponsor paid only a fraction of the recorded fee; the balance came from the club's owner and was still booked as commercial revenue. It found City knew, or was reckless about, whether its accounts gave a true and fair view, and that it clearly intended to get around the rules. Income was overstated by over £830 million across the nine seasons.
Three separate arrangements, with names redacted in the published decision, in which the owner paid sums that were really the club's own liabilities: £8.866 million, £7.4 million and £0.5 million. None appeared as club expenses. The Commission found them to be shams, or not what they appeared to be, and again found City knew or was reckless about it.
An image-rights deal that came out of Project Longbow, the club's programme for boosting revenue. The Commission accepted that most of Longbow's strands were genuine, and said one was not. £24.5 million recorded as income should have been treated as owner funding, and £49.414 million of costs paid by the owner was left out of expenses.
The sponsorship deals were with entities linked to the owner and should have been disclosed as related-party transactions, in every one of the nine seasons. They weren't. The Commission said the missing disclosure alone did not make the accounts untrue, but it did mean they weren't prepared to the required standard.
With the accounts restated to remove the overstated income and add the hidden costs, City missed UEFA's break-even requirement in every season charged, "by a very substantial amount", and so breached the Premier League rule that requires clubs to comply with UEFA regulations.
Same exercise, domestic rules. Restated, City missed the League's own losses limit, £105 million over a rolling three years, by a very substantial amount in every season charged.
The Commission found City breached its duty to cooperate in the majority of the ways alleged in Charge 4(A), in every way alleged in 4(C) and in the way alleged in 4(D), and found the club made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the League's investigation.
The Commission found City did not breach its duty of cooperation in the way alleged in Charge 4(B). It is the only charge not proven at all.
The Commission heard from 27 witnesses of fact and concluded that most were doing their best to give honest evidence.
But it also concluded that evidence from a number of important witnesses called by City was false in a number of key respects, and that certain of those witnesses gave evidence at the hearing that they knew to be untrue, and so had been dishonest. It also rejected City's criticisms of the League's investigation and of how it brought the case.
The League says the sanction will be dealt with in a further hearing. Anything you read about points, fines or titles before that hearing is speculation, and this page will not add to it.
The published document has names and some figures blacked out. The League says it intends to publish the full decision and its appendices as soon as confidentiality allows.
Sources: the Premier League's statement, 29 September 2026, and the redacted core decision it links to. Summaries are this site's own wording. Read the decision itself for the exact findings.