Football
06th Feb 2023
Manchester City will not be able to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to appeal the sanctions issued against them by the Premier League over financial rule breaches.
On Monday morning, the Premier League announced that City had been charged for more than 100 breaches of its financial rules between 2009 and 2017 following a four-year investigation.
The Premier League said that the club broke rules requiring them to provide “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”.
This information included the club’s revenue, including sponsorship revenue and operating costs.
City are also accused of not cooperating with the Premier League’s investigation, which began in 2018.
The Premier League said City, who became one of the richest clubs in the world in 2008 when they were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group, also breached rules related to Uefa regulations – including Financial Fair Play (FFP) – from 2013-14 to 2017-18, as well as Premier League rules on profitability and sustainability from 2015-16 to 2017-18.
In 2020, City were handed a two-year ban from European club competitions by UEFA after they ruled that City committed “serious breaches” of FFP regulations between 2012 and 2016.
But this was overturned by the CAS within months.
However, according to Martyn Ziegler of the Times, Man City will not be able to go down this route on this occasion due to Premier League rules.
Man City latest: under Premier League rules the club will not be able to appeal any sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (which overturned the UEFA ban)
— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) February 6, 2023
Among the possible sanctions the club could face are a points deduction or even expulsion from the league.
The Manchester club have won the Premier League on six occasions and are the current champions.
In a statement following the charges, they said: “Manchester City FC is surprised by the issuing of these alleged breaches of the Premier League Rules, particularly given the extensive engagement and vast amount of detailed materials that the EPL has been provided with.
“The Club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent Commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position.
“As such we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.”
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