Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reportedly agreed a contract extension, as the club awaits the outcome of a trial into their 115 charges for allegedly breaching the Premier League‘s financial rules.
An independent hearing into the case officially began in September, but the verdict is not expected to be made public until spring 2025 at the earliest.
City have been accused of financial impropriety spanning nine years from 2009 and the sternest punishment if found guilty is relegation. Points deductions and fines are also potential penalties.
Guardiola would have been in post for the verdict regardless of his contract extension, with his existing deal running until the end of this season.
His fresh contract – a one year deal with a potential option to extend for a further 12 months – opens the possibility Guardiola could manage Man City outside the top flight or with a points deduction should the club ultimately be hit with a sanction.
Mail Sport has broken down the 115 charges Guardiola‘s side are faced with.
Pep Guardiola has reportedly agreed a new contract to remain as Man City manager
Manchester City are currently facing 115 charges of FFP rules and regulations breaches
Guardiola could face managing the club outside the top flight or with a points deduction should Man City be punished
Manchester City 115 FFP Charges
Manchester City have been charged with a staggering 115 charges of breaking FFP rules during a nine year period.
The time period stretches back to 2009 all the way to 2018. The full 115 charge list was revealed in a Premier League statement in February 2023.
All the charges faced by Manchester City are serious and if they are proved to have broken all or some of these charges, serious repercussions should be expected.
The charges against the club will be investigated, reviewed and analysed by an independent commission.
| Type of breach | Number of charges relating to breach | Start date of trial | Date of decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information from 2009-10 to 2017-18 | 54 | Monday September, 16 2024 | Spring or Summer 2025 |
| Failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation from 2009-10 to 2017-18 | 14 | ” ” | ” ” |
| Failure to comply with UEFA’s regulations, including UEFA’s Club and Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations | 5 | ” ” | ” ” |
| Breaches of Premier League profitability and sustainability regulations from 2015-16 to and including 2017-18 season | 7 | ” ” | ” ” |
| Failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations from December 2018-present | 35 | ” ” | ” ” |
Charges explained
Of the 115 charges, City are facing 54 allegations of a failure to provide accurate and up-to-date financial information to the league from 2009-10 to 2017-18.
This allows the FFP a ‘true and fair’ view of a club’s revenue which includes sponsorship deals and their operating cost, which involve player salaries.
Every club in the Premier League signs up to a code of compliance, which essentially translates to clubs agreeing to behave themselves and provide the league with accurate and up-to-date accounts that are expected to be audited each year.
Over the past few years City have been accused of inflating the value of their sponsorships which are connected to their owners.
They are also facing 14 charges for a failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation for those seasons.
The Manchester outfit are also facing 35 charges for failures to comply with Premier League investigations from December 2018 to the present day.
All of City’s 115 charges were first reported by German outlet, Der Spiegel.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola (pictured second from left) with club owners Sheikh Mansour (pictured right)
Charges include not being truthful about compensation offered to previous managers and players after they departed the club
Timeline of the 115 charges coming to light
- November 2018: German media, Der Spiegel outlet publish several articles accusing Manchester City of breaching FFP rules
- March 2019: UEFA launch a formal investigation following Der Spiegel’s publications
- May 2019: Manchester City criticises the investigation and begin an appeal process
- November 2018: CAS grant Manchester City’s appeal, claiming UEFA’s showed a lack of decision
- February 2020: UEFA announces that Manchester City will face a two-year ban from all European competition and issue a £28.6m fine
- July 2020: Manchester City appeal ban and see it lifted – only have to pay £8.9m fine
- February 2023: The Premier League charge Manchester City with over 115 breaches of FFP rules and regulations
- Autumn 2024: Manchester City’s FFP trial is set to begin in mid-September
- Spring/Summer 2025: A verdict of Manchester City’s 115 charges is expected to be reached
A verdict of Manchester City’s 115 charges isn’t expected until Spring/Summer 2025
Trial and potential punishments
The legal trial between Manchester City and the Premier League officially began in September.
The trial has been heard in private as the Premier League rule regarding FFP breaches states that any ruling before an independent commission will be held in private and will be strictly confidential.
The behind closed doors case means media outlets will have no knowledge of the trial until a final verdict is revealed by the Premier League.
Therefore the media will learn of the ruling at the same time as everybody else.
In relation to punishments, the current legislation has eight potential punishments for a club who have been found to of breached FFP rules.
Like any form of punishment, some are a lot more severe than others, with one essentially being a slap of the wrist and others being detrimental to the club’s future.
Both City and the Premier League have the option of appealing against any verdict — although not to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the body who overturned City’s UEFA ban in 2020.
Managing director of the Premier League, Richard Masters (pictured) has been central to the case
If found to have breached any of FFP’s rules City could face one of a potential eight punishments
Eight FFP punishments:
- A formal warning
- Fines (amount depending on severity of breach)
- Points deduction (amount depending on severity of breach)
- Refusal of revenue from UEFA competitions
- Prohibiting clubs to register new players to their squads for UEFA competitions
- A limit of the amount of players that can be registered in a club’s squad for UEFA competitions
- Disqualification from an ongoing UEFA competition
- Exclusion from future UEFA competitions
Guardiola pictured with City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak (left) after last season’s title win
Manchester City separate legal case against the Premier League
City — who declined to comment — deny wrongdoing and launched a separate legal case against the Premier League
The Premier League champions have been looking to end the top flight’s Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules, which they claim are unlawful.
The rules – introduced in December 2021 – are designed to maintain competitiveness by preventing Premier League clubs from inflating commercial deals with companies linked to their owners.
City claimed in a 165-page legal document that the rules had been approved by rivals to stifle their success on the pitch as a ‘tyranny of the majority’.
The club have accused rivals of ‘discrimination against Gulf ownership’ – after the rules were implemented shortly after Newcastle United’s Saudi takeover.
Rival clubs claimed City’s appeal could destroy the competitiveness of the English top-flight, as it would allow rich clubs to spend an unlimited amount on playing squads and infrastructure.
Man City earned a victory over the Premier League in October when the APT rules were deemed ‘unlawful’.
New rules are set to be voted on the Premier League clubs on Friday. Man City last week wrote to written to all 19 clubs – and the FA – warning that the competition’s proposed changes to sponsorship rules remain ‘unlawful’ and raised the prospect of further legal action.
