After being found guilty of "serious" financial offenses, the Manchester City club announced on Friday that it had appealed in this case for "major consequences for the integrity" of the game, according to the English Football Federation.
Published on: 02/10/2026 - 19:12
The affair continues to cause a stir across the Channel. The Manchester City football club announced on Friday October 2 that it had appealed after being found guilty of “serious” financial offenses.
The multi-titled club from the north of England had until Friday to appeal the guilty verdict made public on Tuesday by an independent commission mandated by the Premier League. He announced in a press release that he had done so on Thursday evening, reiterating his innocence of the financial offenses with which he is accused over the period 2009-2018.
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The club owned by an Emirati fund was found guilty of having artificially inflated its revenues and reduced its costs by more than 900 million pounds (more than a billion euros).
“It’s a big subject”
In its press release, City pointed to "manifest and substantial errors of law, principle and fact" in the verdict, announcing that it had a "complete body of irrefutable evidence (...) to support its positions".
A sanction must still be pronounced, on an unspecified date, but the team owned by Sheikh Mansour ben Zayed al-Nahyan, member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, risks in the most severe scenario the loss of several titles and exclusion from the championship.
Since moving to the UAE flag in 2008, Manchester City has won eight Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2023, notably by making massive investments in the transfer market.
The affair caused a shock wave in English football among fans of the Citizens as well as their opponents, several of whom demanded the restitution of the titles won by the Mancunians.
Within the English national team, gathered in Croatia on the eve of a Nations League match, "the players are talking about it" and in particular those of Manchester City Marc Guehi and Elliott Anderson, said coach Thomas Tuchel on Friday. “It’s a big topic.”
“Major consequences for the integrity” of the game
The English Federation broke its silence on Friday morning to consider that violations of financial regulations by Manchester City had had "major consequences for the integrity" of the game. The body specified in a press release that it was "carefully analyzing the conclusions (of the investigation carried out by the Premier League) and its implications" in order to take appropriate measures.
The verdict could also have geopolitical repercussions, tarnishing the success of a club which is one of the most brilliant showcases of Abu Dhabi's "soft power", with which the United Kingdom has long-standing ties.
The Emirati airline Etihad, Manchester City's main partner, strongly criticized the verdict on Thursday. The jersey sponsor, who also gave his name to the Mancunian stadium, “categorically” rejected “any assertion, conclusion or insinuation” suggesting that it “would have been involved in irregular commercial agreements”.
While Prime Minister Andy Burnham, former mayor of Greater Manchester, welcomed the investments of the club's Emirati owners on Wednesday, Downing Street tempered this support by assuring Thursday that Manchester City was not "above the rules".
For their part, the lawyers of computer hacker and whistleblower Rui Pinto, at the origin of the "Football Leaks" revelations on football business which notably made it possible to bring to light the offenses attributed to Manchester City, denounced on Friday the end of the special protection program from which he benefited.
With AFP
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