London, 30 September 2026 — EBM Newsdesk Analysis — By Nick Staunton
On Tuesday, 29 September, the Premier League confirmed that an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of all charges of breaching its financial rules over nine seasons. The commission found that City overstated revenue by £855.2m and understated costs by £66.2m, a combined distortion of more than £900m. It also found the club guilty of most charges of failing to co-operate with the league’s investigation. Sanctions have not yet been decided, and City plans to appeal.
The detail is striking. City recorded £949.9m in sponsorship income from Abu Dhabi-based partners between 2009 and 2018. The commission found that only £119.2m came from the sponsors themselves. The other £830.6m was provided by the club’s owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group. This is not a dispute over accounting interpretation. It goes to the heart of how football’s most successful club of the past decade was financed.
What the Commission Found
The mechanism was simple. City signed large sponsorship deals with Abu Dhabi companies, and the owners quietly funded most of the payments. In the commission’s words, the club relied on sham agreements to inflate revenue and cut costs. Accurate reporting would have shown significant breaches of Premier League and UEFA spending limits.
Join The European Business Briefing
New subscribers this quarter are entered into a draw to win a Rolex Submariner. Join 40,000+ founders, investors and executives who read EBM every day.
SubscribeThe same approach extended to wages. The commission found sham image-rights arrangements that topped up the pay of players and the then manager, Roberto Mancini. The money was presented as coming from third parties when it came from the owners.
The findings are pinned on “the club”. There is no indication that Sheikh Mansour was personally involved.
Why It Took So Long
The investigation began in December 2018, after Der Spiegel published leaked club emails. The commission held a 42-day hearing that ended in December 2024, then took 21 months to deliver its verdict. In that time, City kept winning trophies.
Either side can now appeal to a fresh three-member commission. The appeal is a review of the verdict rather than a full rehearing, is limited to five days and must be completed within 12 weeks. City has been here before. In 2020 the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a two-year UEFA ban for similar alleged breaches.
The Business Question
For investors, this goes beyond one club. City’s rise was built on the premise that Abu Dhabi’s wealth could be turned into commercial revenue. That revenue made City one of Europe’s biggest football clubs, with around €826m a year. The commission has now found that much of the early commercial income was owner money in disguise.
That matters for valuations. Football clubs are increasingly bought and sold by private equity and multi-club groups, which price them on revenue. If one of the league’s flagship commercial success stories was partly manufactured, every related-party sponsorship deal in the game deserves a harder look. The same question applies wherever Gulf money has moved into sport, from Newcastle to golf.
What I Think
The verdict is only half the story. The sanction is what will decide whether English football’s rules mean anything. A fine would be a rounding error for owners of this wealth. A significant points deduction or the loss of titles would change the economics of the sport. The commission has done its job. The question now is whether the punishment matches a £900m finding. If it doesn’t, every club with a rich owner will draw the obvious conclusion.
Related Analysis
