UEFA is monitoring the Manchester City case and will wait for the conclusion of the Premier League’s disciplinary process before deciding whether to take any action against the club.
City were found by an independent commission to have breached the Premier League’s financial regulations between 2009 and 2018, including five charges relating to UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.
The commission concluded that £830 million provided by the club’s owners had been disguised as sponsorship income over nine seasons. City are appealing the decision and insist they have “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” that will clear them.
Manchester City appeal and potential UEFA action
UEFA’s financial rules at the time required clubs to operate within break-even limits, effectively restricting them to spending what they earned.
The Premier League investigation had access to documents and evidence that were not available to UEFA when European football’s governing body pursued its earlier case against City.
UEFA has a five-year limitation period for financial rule breaches, while the Premier League does not. The European case was triggered by hacked City emails published by the German magazine Der Spiegel in 2018.
City described the internal documents as “out-of-context materials purportedly hacked or stolen” in what they called an “organised and clear attempt to damage the club’s reputation”.
In 2014, City reached a settlement with UEFA after being charged with breaching Financial Fair Play rules. The agreement included a £49 million fine, of which £32 million was suspended.
Six years later, UEFA found City guilty of Financial Fair Play breaches, imposed a €30 million fine and issued a two-year ban from European competitions.
City appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned the ban. CAS said UEFA had not established that the club’s owners disguised equity funding as sponsorship contributions, while other alleged breaches were time-barred.
The tribunal reduced the fine to €10 million for failing to co-operate with UEFA’s investigation, stating that most of the alleged breaches “were either not established or time barred”.
Premier League appeal timetable
City have filed their appeal against the independent commission’s findings. Under Premier League rules introduced this season, the appeal process is due to be completed within 12 weeks.
The hearing can last no more than five days and must take place in one continuous block. A different three-person panel will consider the appeal and will then have 30 days to issue its judgment.
However, City could argue that the accelerated timetable should not apply because the club was charged in 2023 and the hearing took place in 2024, before the new appeal rules were introduced.
The club has said the process contains “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact” and is unsafe. It has also maintained that it has respected due process while pursuing the appeal avenues available to it.
The independent commission’s hearing took place between September and December 2024. UEFA will continue to monitor developments before determining whether the Premier League outcome provides grounds for any further action.
