Manchester City appeals Premier League financial-rule findings

The club filed its appeal on Thursday evening, challenging an independent commission’s findings over serious financial-rule breaches spanning nine seasons.

Manchester City says it lodged its appeal at 7pm on 1 October; the Premier League confirmed it was filed with the Chair of the Judicial Panel.
The commission found the charges proved except one co-operation charge. The league says all serious financial-breach charges were upheld.
City says the decision contains material errors of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.
No sanction has been announced. The appeal hearing will be private, and the timetable for this case has not been set publicly.

City filed the appeal a day before the Premier League’s 2 October deadline. The league confirmed on Friday that the appeal had been lodged with the Chair of the Judicial Panel, who appoints the three-person Appeal Board. The league says the appeal hearing will remain private and confidential until publication of the outcome is permitted.¹

The appeal challenges findings published on 29 September after a 42-day hearing held between September and December 2024. The commission found the charges proved except Charge 4(B), one of the allegations that City had failed to co-operate with the league’s investigation. The Premier League says the commission upheld all charges concerning serious financial-rule breaches between 2009/10 and 2017/18, as well as most of the co-operation charges.²

City’s public statement gives only broad grounds: it says the commission’s opinion contains material errors “of law, principle and fact” and is unsafe. The club also says it is innocent. Those are City’s claims; they do not alter the commission’s findings, which are a decision under Premier League rules, not a criminal conviction.³

The appeal is the next stage in a case the league says it began investigating in December 2018. It referred more than 100 alleged breaches to the commission in February 2023; City denied the charges. The published decision is redacted, and the league says further appendices remain to be published when it is able.⁴

The rules set a standard timetable: if standard directions apply, the appeal hearing should conclude within 12 weeks of filing, last no more than five days, and be followed by a written decision within 30 days. But the Appeal Board can vary or disapply those directions, and no case-specific dates have been announced.⁵

The commission will consider any sanction at a separate hearing. The league has not said whether that hearing could take place before the appeal is decided, so the appeal’s effect on the timing of a sanction is not yet clear. No sanction has been announced.⁶

Manchester City appeals Premier League financial-rule findings

Footnotes