Manchester City have announced the club will launch an appeal after being found guilty by a Premier League Independent Commission of inflating their revenue by over £900 million.

The league in 2023 filed 115 charges against the club in connection with the offences. 

In a statement on Tuesday, the Premier League formally said that an independent commission had ruled that City broke the league’s financial rules over a period of nine years as well as failure to cooperate with authorities in their investigations. 

“An independent Commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation,” the league said. 

According to the league, between 2009 and 2018, City arranged ‘sham’ contracts with several parties, including the Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owns the club and players’ image rights purchasing company Fordham, to inflate the price of their business transactions. 

Through the scheme, City were able to reduce their operational costs by more than £900 million during the period under review, potentially preventing the club from breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules and UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations.

“The purpose of these schemes was found to have been to artificially inflate the club’s revenues, and reduce its costs, by more than £900 million during the affected period, to appear to comply with financial rules. 

“The consequence of this, as the Commission found, was that the club filed misstated accounts and concealed the true state of its finances from its auditors and football regulators. The Commission concluded that ‘by its conduct the club clearly intended to circumvent the PL Rules’,” the league noted. 

Reacting to the decision in a statement, City said it was surprised and disappointed by the ruling of the independent commission, stressing the club’s innocence of the charges against them.

City subsequently announced that it would appeal the ruling. The club has until October 2, 2026, to file an appeal. 

“Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission that has been published today. The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions relating to this case. 

“The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums. The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted.  Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe,” the club said.