Manchester City to Appeal After Commission Upholds Financial Charges

Manchester City faces a second stage in its long-running Premier League financial case after an independent commission upheld all charges concerning serious financial-rule breaches across nine seasons. The league announced the findings on September 29, 2026. No sanction has been imposed, and City says it will appeal.

The commission’s decision concerns the 2009/10 through 2017/18 seasons. It found that the club used commercial agreements that did not reflect the true arrangements between the parties, making revenue appear higher and costs lower. According to the Premier League’s account of the findings, the effect exceeded £900 million over the period. The commission also found that City’s accounts misstated its financial position and that accurate reporting would have shown substantial breaches of Premier League and UEFA spending limits.

The commission upheld three of four charges concerning City’s duties to cooperate with the league’s investigation and act in good faith. Its published core decision says it found the charges proved apart from one of those cooperation charges. These are findings in a football disciplinary proceeding, not a criminal judgment.

City rejects the decision

Manchester City responded that it was disappointed and surprised. The club maintains that it is innocent and says it has evidence supporting its position. It argues that the commission’s decision contains material errors of law, principle and fact, and says it will use the appeal routes available to it.

City also says significant parts of the Premier League process remain unfinished. That is true in one important respect: the commission has decided the charges, but it has yet to decide what punishment, if any, should follow the upheld findings. The club has not accepted those findings, and its planned challenge means they could be reconsidered.

What punishment could follow?

The same independent commission will address sanctions at a separate hearing. The Premier League says its rules give commissions broad discretion, with possible measures including a fine, a points deduction and other sporting sanctions. It has not announced a proposed penalty or a date for a sanctions decision.

A points deduction could affect a league table, while a fine would carry a financial cost. The scope of any sporting sanction will depend on the commission’s decision and the applicable rules. Speculation about relegation, expulsion or changes to past titles should not be mistaken for an announced outcome. None of those measures was imposed in the September 29 announcement.

The sanction hearing will be private. The league says it will publish further decisions when its rules permit and unless it is legally prevented from doing so. For now, the publicly available core decision is redacted; additional appendices have not all been released.

How the appeal works

City has until Friday, October 2, 2026, to exercise its right to appeal the commission’s findings. A challenge under the Premier League’s disciplinary rules would go before a three-member Appeal Board appointed through the league’s independent judicial-panel process. The board can uphold or reject an appeal and has authority to vary a commission order.

The October 2 deadline applies to an appeal against the findings already announced. The separate sanctions stage still has to take place, and the league has not set out a public timetable for its conclusion or for any subsequent challenge to a sanction. City’s statement expresses an intention to pursue an appeal; the statement does not itself establish that an appeal has been filed.

The case began with a Premier League investigation in December 2018. The league referred its charges to a commission in February 2023, and a 42-day hearing ended in December 2024. The commission acknowledged that producing its decision took longer than anticipated, citing the volume of evidence and arguments it had to assess.

The immediate questions are therefore procedural as well as sporting: whether City files its appeal by October 2, when the commission holds its sanctions hearing, and what any Appeal Board decides. Until those steps are complete, the upheld charges are a major finding—but neither the final penalty nor the end of the dispute.