Nine seasons. Disguised sponsorship funding. Hidden costs. Every serious financial charge proved by the Commission, with sanctions still to come.
9
seasons examined
£830.69m
owner-funded sums · BBC
42
hearing days
The chronology / four chapters
Start with the ownership change, then follow the money through nine seasons to the decision. Every finding has a source; no figures shown here are fines or repayment orders.
Chapter 01 / 2008–2010
How it started
The club’s ownership changed, financial pressure grew and the Commission says owner funding began to be recorded as sponsorship.
September 2008 / 2008
Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) acquires City. By late 2009, the Commission says the club anticipated substantial losses and needed owner equity to fund its ambitions.
2009/10 season / 2009
City feared its loss might exceed the then-record £140m single-season Premier League loss. The Commission says the club wanted to avoid that outcome while meeting future financial fair-play rules.
Early 2010 / 2010
The Commission found that certain sponsorship contracts stated a fee that the commercial partner was not actually liable to pay in full. The sponsor paid a smaller base sum; ADUG paid the balance, called the ‘tagged sum’. City recorded the whole amount as commercial income rather than identifying the owner funding as equity.
How the recorded sponsorship fee worked
Nine-season aggregate from BBC Sport: £119.25m paid by sponsors, £830.69m by owners, of £949.94m recorded. Rounded chart shares; not a contract-by-contract split. BBC Sport
Chapter 02 / 2009–2018
What the accounts showed
Nine seasons of reported figures, the image-rights arrangement and other costs the Commission says were left out.
Nine seasons · 2009/10–2017/18 / 2009–18
The Commission found owner-funded sums were recorded as sponsorship income. BBC Sport has broken the published findings down season by season and placed them beside reported transfer spending and league results. The columns show what happened at the same time; they do not establish which purchases the funding paid for.
League 5th
Transfers · £126m
Arrivals: Tevez, Adebayor, Lescott, Santa Cruz, Kolo Touré, Barry
League 3rd · FA Cup
Transfers · £157m
Arrivals: Džeko, Yaya Touré, Balotelli, Silva, Kolarov, Milner
League 1st
Transfers · £78m
Arrivals: Agüero, Nasri, Savić, Clichy
League 2nd
Transfers · £53m
Arrivals: García, Nastasić, Rodwell, Sinclair, Maicon
League 1st · EFL Cup
Transfers · £99m
Arrivals: Fernandinho, Jovetić, Negredo, Navas
League 2nd
Transfers · £88m
Arrivals: Mangala, Bony, Fernando, Caballero
League 4th · EFL Cup
Transfers · £179m
Arrivals: De Bruyne, Sterling, Otamendi, Delph
League 3rd
Transfers · £185m
Arrivals: Stones, Sané, Jesus, Gündoğan, Bravo, Nolito
League 1st · EFL Cup
Transfers · £272m
Arrivals: Laporte, Mendy, Walker, Bernardo, Ederson, Danilo
Recorded total
£949.94m
Sponsors paid
£119.25m
Owner-funded balance
£830.69m
BBC Sport reports about £1.2bn in transfer spending and seven major domestic trophies over the period.
Seasonal sponsorship, transfer and results figures: BBC Sport . Financial findings: Commission decision, paragraph 101(a) . Transfer spending is separate from the accounting sums; this comparison does not trace individual transfers to particular funding or prove a counterfactual result. The published decision does not identify every redacted contract.
Third quarter of 2012 / 2012
City began a programme to increase revenue and reduce operating losses. The Commission accepted that many strands were legitimate; it singled out the Fordham image-rights arrangement as not legitimate.
Fordham arrangement / From 2012
The Commission found that a fee for players’ image rights was in substance owner funding, not operating income. It also found that image-rights payments made by ADUG should have appeared as City’s operating expenses.
Fordham arrangement · continued / From 2012
The same arrangement left £49.414m of operating expenses out of the club’s accounts, according to the Commission. This is a distinct accounting effect from the £24.5m income finding.
Remuneration arrangements / 2009–18
The redacted decision identifies three ADUG-funded remuneration arrangements whose true liabilities were not reflected in City's accounts. Names and some contract details are redacted in the public version, so these amounts should not be assigned to named individuals from the decision alone.
£8.866m
arrangement A
£7.4m
arrangement B
£0.5m
arrangement C
2013/14 season / 2013
UEFA questioned certain Abu Dhabi-linked sponsorship agreements and City's break-even compliance. No finding was made in that investigation; the parties entered a settlement in May 2014. The Commission later found the submitted figures had included the disguised sponsorship income.
From 2015/16 / 2015
Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules used a £105m loss threshold over a rolling three-year period. The Commission found City in significant breach of Premier League and UEFA spending limits.
Chapter 03 / 2018–2024
How it was investigated
The leaked material, the separate UEFA case, the Premier League charges and the private hearing.
November–December 2018 / 2018
Der Spiegel published leaked material in November. The Premier League's investigation began in December, leading to a prolonged dispute over document production and co-operation.
February–July 2020 / 2020
UEFA initially imposed a two-season European ban and €30m fine. CAS later overturned the ban, finding most alleged breaches not established or time-barred, but upheld a failure-to-cooperate finding and reduced the fine to €10m. This was a separate case from the Premier League proceedings.
6 February 2023 / 2023
After a four-year investigation, the League referred alleged breaches across four categories to an independent Commission. The case became known as the ‘115 charges’.
16 September–6 December 2024 / 2024
The Commission heard the case over 42 sitting days. Its published core decision refers to 37 appendices that have not been published, limiting the contract-by-contract detail available for independent scrutiny.
Chapter 04 / 2026 and beyond
What is decided, and what is not
What the Commission decided, and what remains unresolved while sanctions and appeal rights are outstanding.
29 September 2026 / 2026
The Commission found all serious financial charges proved and three of four co-operation allegations upheld. Its decision describes intentional circumvention of the rules. City denies wrongdoing and can appeal.
Still to be decided / NEXT
No punishment was set in the core decision. A further confidential hearing will decide sanctions; City had until 2 October 2026 to appeal the findings. The outcome should not be treated as final while appeal rights remain.
The people behind the spending
The squad / 2008–2018
The headline signings of the nine-season period, with the fees widely reported at the time. These fees are contemporary press figures, not Commission findings. The published decision does not link the funding findings to any individual transfer.
2008 0from Real Madrid
£32.5m
British record fee at the time
2009 3from Manchester United
£25m
fee disputed; widely reported figure
2009 0from Arsenal
£25m
2010 8from Barcelona
£24m
2010 14from Valencia
£24m
2010 3from Inter Milan
£24m
2011 15from Atlético Madrid
£38m
club record at the time
2013 14from Shakhtar Donetsk
£34m
2015 19from VfL Wolfsburg
£55m
club record at the time
2015 12from Liverpool
£49m
2016 18from Everton
£47.5m
2017 18from Tottenham Hotspur
£50m
2017 18from Benfica
£35m
2018 14from Athletic Club
£57m
club record at the time
The era the signings built.
Erling Haaland arrived in 2022, four seasons after the nine examined above. He is shown for context, not as part of the findings.
Fees are the figures reported by BBC Sport and other outlets at the time of each signing; several were officially undisclosed. Honours count major trophies won with City while in the squad (Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, Community Shield, Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup), per club records; individual wages are not published, so only the club's annual wage bill from its accounts is shown. Photos: Wikimedia Commons and Shutterstock. Spending alongside a finding does not establish which transfers, if any, the owner funding paid for.
The honours / 2009/10–2017/18
Every major trophy lifted during the nine seasons covered by the findings. The Commission's decision covers finances, not results: no title has been stripped, and what happens to these honours, if anything, is for the sanctions stage.
×3
Premier League
2011/12 · 2013/14 · 2017/18
Including the 100-point season, 2017/18
×1
FA Cup
2010/11
The first trophy of the era, ending a 35-year wait
×3
League Cup
2013/14 · 2015/16 · 2017/18
Three wins in five seasons
×1
Community Shield
2012
Season curtain-raiser after the first title
8 major trophies across the nine seasons
Honours per club records. Three league titles, one FA Cup, three League Cups and one Community Shield were won while the funding the Commission ruled on was flowing into the club.
The League's case.
The Premier League brought the charges. Its own rulebook now frames what follows.
The figures / side by side
The two sides of the accounting picture: revenue recorded as sponsorship, and costs the Commission says were left out. Not a season-by-season ledger: the published appendices are redacted.
BBC Sport's itemisation of the £949.94m recorded as sponsorship across nine seasons, 2009/10 to 2017/18.
A separate set of sums, from the Commission's redacted decision rather than the BBC itemisation. They are not part of the sponsorship totals above.
Source: the Commission's redacted decision
Bars compare omitted expenses only, scaled to £49.414m. The separate £24.5m Fordham income reclassification is not included in these bars. Figures are from paragraph 101(b–e) of the redacted core decision; they are not a breakdown of individual sponsors’ contracts.
All serious financial charges were found proved. Three of four co-operation allegations were upheld, the source of the reported “114 of 115” shorthand. The Commission has not yet decided a punishment, and City may appeal.
Established in core decision
Financial breaches proved
The Commission's findings cover sham arrangements, misstated accounts and breaches of spending limits.
Awaiting further hearing
No sanction announced
A separate confidential hearing will decide sanctions. City had until 2 October 2026 to appeal the findings.
Primary source
Independent Commission · redacted core decision
The club at the centre of the case.
Photo: Shutterstock.
What the club is playing for.
The findings are public. The penalty, and any appeal, are still to be settled.
Chapter 05 / what could come next
The finding is public. The punishment is not. Section W of the 2026/27 Premier League Handbook sets out powers, not a fixed tariff for these breaches. The independent Commission will decide sanctions at a separate hearing.
Section W · W.64.1–2
A reprimand or a fine with no stated upper limit.
Section W · W.64.4.1–2
Suspend a club from League matches or deduct points already scored or yet to be scored.
Section W · W.64.4.4
Recommend that the League expels a club from membership. This is not automatic relegation into the EFL.
Section W · W.64.5, 7–8
Compensation, combinations of penalties and conditional sanctions are also within the Commission’s powers.
Reported possibilities / not a ruling
Sky Sports reporters Kaveh Solhekol and Rob Dorsett list fines, points deductions and other sporting penalties as possibilities. They note the League has no preset sanctions grid for financial breaches. None is a published proposal from the Commission for City.
An agreement / possible in principle
Section W.6.7 allows a written sanction agreement between the League Board and a club. Under W.16–17, an independent panel must ratify it and may reject an unduly lenient sanction. These provisions do not establish that this already-decided Commission case will settle, or that any talks are underway. No settlement has been announced.
The competition that brought the case.
Photo: Shutterstock.
Expulsion would be a recommendation under W.64.4.4, not a Commission-ordered drop into the Championship. The EFL controls its own membership; no destination can be assumed. These are available powers, not predicted outcomes.
The rest of the game.
How earlier cases were handled shapes what clubs expect now.
Chapter 06 / other clubs
Real outcomes show the stakes, not a formula for City. The English cases involve financial loss limits; City's findings concern a much wider pattern of misstated income, omitted costs and co-operation failures.
Premier League · 2023/24
−8 points
A 10-point deduction for one PSR breach became six on appeal; a second, overlapping PSR case added two. Everton finished 15th, staying up.
Premier League · 2023/24
−4 points
A PSR loss-limit breach brought an immediate four-point deduction, upheld on appeal. Forest fell into the relegation zone when penalised but finished 17th and stayed up.
EFL rules · 2025/26
−6 points
A Premier League Commission recommended a six-point Championship deduction for an EFL profit-and-sustainability breach after Leicester had returned to the EFL. Its appeal failed. This was not a Premier League points deduction.
Scotland · 2012 / insolvency and membership
After the old company entered liquidation, the new company was refused a Scottish Premier League place and admitted to the Scottish Football League's Third Division. Rangers spent four seasons outside the top flight, returning in 2016. This was a membership decision following insolvency, not a disciplinary relegation for financial-rule breaches.
Italy · 2006 / Calciopoli
The Italian federation demoted Juventus to Serie B after the match-officials scandal and stripped the club of two league titles. Its initial 30-point penalty was later reduced to nine. Juventus lost top-flight and European football for 2006/07, then won promotion at the first attempt. This was a sporting-integrity case under Italian rules, not a Premier League financial case.
Neither foreign example sets a precedent for the Premier League Commission. Rangers illustrates insolvency and re-admission; Juventus illustrates a sporting-integrity punishment. Neither tells us what City's sanction will be.
Chapter 06b / Beyond the League
The Premier League is not the only body with a stake. UEFA has its own history with City, the FA owns two of the cups won in the period, and England now has a football regulator. None has announced a penalty.
At a glance
Penalties announced: 0 of 3
Europe
€30m → €10m
UEFA's 2020 fine, cut on appeal when the ban was overturned
Watching. No new action announced.
In its remit
England
2 trophies
FA Cup and Community Shield won by City in the nine seasons
Quiet so far. No statement found.
In its remit
Regulator
3-person panel
Where any City appeal goes, not the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Says the decision raises "serious issues".
In its remit
The game reacts.
Voices from across football since the decision landed.
Chapter 07 / Reactions
Former players, managers, club executives and officials have spoken since the decision. Quotes are as reported by the linked outlet. Opinions here are theirs, not findings of the Commission.
Rodri
Former City midfielder, 2019–2026
“I believe in the justice system and I believe in the innocence of the club.”Spain press conference, via the Manchester Evening News
Pep Guardiola
Former City manager, 2016–2026
“I am, always have been, always will, be behind my club, my owner, my chairman.”Social media post, via BBC Sport
Khaldoon Al Mubarak
City chairman
“Our confidence and intent in proving the club's innocence is just as strong as when this began.”Open letter to fans, via Reuters
Ferran Soriano
City chief executive
“Called the case a "Premier League conspiracy theory".”Internal video, via Sky Sports
Micah Richards
Former City defender
“I saw the words which were used by the Premier League in sham contracts and I felt absolutely devastated.”The Rest Is Football, via PA
Roy Keane
Former Man United captain
“If I was a player, I'd be 100% sticking those medals in the bin.”ITV Sport, via BBC Sport
Ian Wright
Former Arsenal striker
“Cheating on an industrial scale.”ITV Sport, via The Independent
Jamie Carragher
Former Liverpool defender
“For me, this is all about the owners.”Sky Sports, via the Mirror
Gary Neville
Former Man United defender
“To listen to this, it is chilling.”Stick to Football, via The Independent
Mauricio Pochettino
USA coach, ex-Spurs and Chelsea
“How did this happen? Where were the controls?”Press conference, via Sports Illustrated
David Bernstein
Former City and FA chairman
“City can't stay in the Premier League.”BBC Sport live, 30 Sept 2026
Mark Palios
Former FA chief executive
“They have to be proportionate and they have to be significant.”TV interview, 30 Sept 2026
Javier Tebas
La Liga president
“It should be a punishment intended to set an example.”Fifpro summit, via The Independent
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