Manchester City have been found guilty of breaching the majority of the English Premier League’s financial rules, according to multiple British media reports published on Thursday and Friday. No punishment has been set, the judgment has not been published, and the club says the process is still running.
For Premier League followers in Fiji, the practical position is that nothing has moved: no points have been deducted, no trophy has changed hands and the fixture list is untouched. What follows is what the reports say, where they disagree, and what still has to happen before any of it reaches the table.
Key facts
- The ABC reports an independent panel found City guilty of 114 charges, all but one of the 115 they were charged with in February 2023.
- The BBC puts it more cautiously, saying sources confirmed a decision against City on the majority of the charges. Nehanda Radio notes the difference between the BBC and The Athletic accounts.
- The alleged breaches cover 2009 to 2018. The ABC reports roughly two thirds concerned financial reporting and profit and sustainability rules, and the other third a failure to cooperate with the league’s investigation.
- Sanctions are undecided. Nehanda Radio reports the commission’s powers range from a fine to a substantial points deduction or expulsion from the Premier League.
- City are expected to appeal. The Premier League has declined to comment or confirm the decision, per the ABC.
- Nothing has changed on the pitch or in the record books yet, Heavy reports.
What it means for fans in Fiji
This is an English domestic regulatory case. It is being heard by an independent commission appointed under the Premier League’s own rules, not by FIFA, the Oceania Football Confederation or Fiji Football. None of the reports reviewed by Fiji News describes a finding that touches Fijian clubs, players or competitions, and none carries comment from Fiji Football or the OFC.
Nor do any of the reports address broadcast or streaming arrangements in the Pacific. If a sanction is eventually imposed, the visible effect for viewers here would be to the league table and to City’s squad-building, not to whether matches are shown.
Watch the clock
Timing is the detail that matters for anyone following this from Suva, Lautoka or Labasa. On Fiji News’s own calculation, Fiji Time runs 11 hours ahead of British Summer Time, so a standard 3pm Saturday kick-off in England starts at 2am on Sunday here, and a Sunday evening match in Manchester is a Monday morning game in Fiji.
The same arithmetic applies to the announcement itself. Any statement issued during a London working day will break overnight in Fiji, and Heavy says the league’s own site, premierleague.com, is where full statements and updates are expected. Because the commission has published no timetable, there is no date for Fiji fans to put in the diary.
What the panel decided, and what it has not
Nehanda Radio reports that neither the Premier League nor the independent commission has publicly released the judgment. That is the central caveat on everything currently in circulation.
The ABC reports other Premier League clubs have been informed. Dale Johnson, the BBC’s football issues correspondent, said a select group of club directors were emailed and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before reading the document, and that the process had been tight with no leaks until now. Nehanda Radio reports clubs were told after a shareholders’ meeting on Thursday.
So there are findings, but no published reasons, no sanction and no confirmed figure from the league.
Why the reports do not match
The 114 figure traces to one newsroom: according to Heavy, The Athletic’s David Ornstein first reported the outcome on Thursday, saying City were found guilty on all but one of the charges. The ABC carries the same 114-of-115 count. The BBC, working from its own sources, has confirmed only that the decision went against City on most of the charges and has not published a number. Treat 114 as a single-source figure corroborated in outline but not in detail — and note Nehanda Radio’s point that the total of 115 is itself a convention, with some later calculations putting it at 130 or higher because repeated alleged breaches were counted separately.
Two smaller discrepancies do not change the case. Nehanda Radio says City have won eight Premier League titles under Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who bought the club in September 2008, while Heavy says six since the takeover; either way, both the ABC and Nehanda Radio agree only three of those titles fall inside the charge period. And while Nehanda Radio and Heavy report the hearing ran from September to December 2024, the ABC describes a hearing lasting several weeks — figures that can both hold, because no sitting schedule has been published.
How the case got here
Nehanda Radio reports the Premier League charged City in February 2023 after a four-year investigation prompted by leaked documents published by the German magazine Der Spiegel in 2018. The case has been known ever since as the 115 charges.
Johnson told BBC Radio 5 Live the case is eight years in the making, and said income had been disguised as sponsorship income so that the club appeared not to be losing money when it was. The ABC’s breakdown aligns with that: roughly two thirds of the charges concern financial reporting and profit and sustainability rules, with the remaining third covering an alleged failure to cooperate.
With the hearing finished in December 2024, the sport waited close to two years for an outcome, on the timeline Nehanda Radio and Heavy describe. City’s own statement puts the length of the ordeal at eight years, dating it to the start of the scrutiny rather than the charges.
The trophies in question
Nehanda Radio reports City won eight major English trophies in the period covered by the case: three Premier League titles, three League Cups, one FA Cup and one Community Shield, with the titles coming in 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18. The ABC lists three titles, the FA Cup and three League Cups for the same period, a near-identical tally that omits the Community Shield.
Manchester United finished second in 2012 and 2018, and Liverpool in 2014. Nehanda Radio reports that talk of stripping titles remains speculative, with no decision announced on retrospective deductions or reassigning championships.
What punishments are possible
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire told the BBC that other clubs would expect some form of points deduction, if not worse, if the reported findings are confirmed. Nehanda Radio reports the scale of any sanction will depend on the seriousness of the individual breaches and on whether the commission finds City gained a sporting advantage.
Dr Tom Bason, another football finance expert, told BBC 5 Live he cannot see the Premier League going easy on City. Fans who contacted the programme called for points deductions, transfer bans, fines and relegation. The ABC notes clubs found to have breached the rules have previously been docked points; Johnson cited Everton’s six-point deduction and Nottingham Forest’s four, which he called minor breaches by comparison.
Sports law specialist Chris Farnell told the BBC that having virtually all the charges proven is a unique position at this level and has sent shockwaves through the club, and that it puts a stain on City’s achievements of the last decade that may never be shaken off. Heavy calls it the biggest regulatory verdict in the competition’s history.
City’s position
Manchester City would neither confirm nor deny the reported verdict, Nehanda Radio reports, but issued a statement saying: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality.”
The club said its position is unchanged from its February 2023 statement, and that it has respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would act as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator free from partisan influence. City have consistently denied wrongdoing, pointing to what they call a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence, according to Nehanda Radio.
Football finance expert Stefan Borson told 5 Live that City chose to admit nothing and fight, unlike Chelsea’s settle-and-sanction approach — Johnson noted Chelsea admitted everything and presented the evidence the Premier League wanted — and that, pending appeal, the strategy has gone very badly wrong.
Where City stand on the field
Heavy reports Pep Guardiola left City at the end of last season after a decade in charge, and his former assistant Enzo Maresca took over on a three-year deal this summer, with City top of the table on a perfect record through five matches. Heavy says an appeal is close to certain and the sanctions decision will bring another wave of scrutiny.
What to watch next
Three things would move this story: publication of the commission’s judgment and reasons, a sanctions ruling, and City’s appeal. None has a date attached, and the Premier League is not commenting, per the ABC.
Closer to home, Fiji News’s recent sport coverage includes the Fijiana’s run at the WXV Challenger title, which is decided on the field this weekend, and Oceania Rugby’s cancellation of the Rotorua 7s over a funding gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do reports disagree on how many charges Manchester City were found guilty of?
Because the ruling itself is not public. Nehanda Radio reports neither the Premier League nor the independent commission has released the judgment, and the BBC’s Dale Johnson said the select group of club directors who were emailed the document had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before reading it. That leaves outlets reporting from sources rather than from the text: the figure of 114 guilty findings out of 115 charges traces to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, according to Heavy, and is repeated by the ABC, while the BBC has said only that sources confirmed a decision against City on the majority of the charges without putting a number on it. Nehanda Radio flags the gap between the two accounts. Nehanda Radio also notes that ‘115 charges’ is itself a shorthand, with some later calculations putting the number at 130 or higher because repeated alleged breaches were counted separately.
Have other Premier League clubs been punished for financial breaches before?
Yes, and recently. The BBC’s football issues correspondent Dale Johnson said Everton were docked six points and Nottingham Forest four, and he described those as minor breaches by comparison with the City case. The BBC also noted Everton were the first Premier League club sanctioned under the top flight’s financial rules, which is why there is no precedent at this scale. The ABC notes clubs found to have breached the rules have previously been docked points, but no Premier League club has previously faced findings across a case of this size.
Could Manchester City be stripped of past Premier League titles?
Nehanda Radio reports that suggestions City could lose previous titles remain speculative, with no official decision announced on retrospective points deductions, removing trophies or reassigning championships to runners-up. Only three league titles fall inside the 2009-to-2018 period the charges cover: Nehanda Radio lists 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18, with Manchester United second in 2012 and 2018 and Liverpool second in 2014. Titles City won after 2018 sit outside the charge period. The ABC notes former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand posted on social media on Friday about another Premier League medal being added to his cabinet, after United finished runners-up in 2011-12.
Can other clubs claim compensation from Manchester City?
Dale Johnson told BBC Radio 5 Live that beyond the teams that finished second, the stronger question involves clubs that finished fifth and sixth and missed out on the Champions League, or were beaten by City and relegated. He said the strongest claims sit at the top end of the table, but that a claim could also exist further down if a strong legal argument can be made. No club has been reported as having lodged a claim.
Does this change Manchester City’s current season?
Not so far. Heavy reports City are top of the table on a perfect record through five matches, under Enzo Maresca, who took over on a three-year deal this summer after Pep Guardiola left at the end of last season following a decade in charge. No sanction has been imposed, so no points have been removed from the current standings, and Heavy reports nothing has changed on the pitch or in the record books.
When will a punishment be announced, and how will fans in Fiji hear about it?
No date has been announced. Nehanda Radio reports sanctions are undecided and that the commission’s powers range from a fine to a substantial points deduction or expulsion from the Premier League, with the scale depending on the seriousness of the individual breaches and on whether the commission finds City gained a sporting advantage. City are expected to appeal, per the ABC, which would add a further stage. Heavy says full statements and updates are expected on the league’s own site, premierleague.com. On Fiji News’s own calculation, Fiji Time runs 11 hours ahead of British Summer Time, so an announcement made during a London working day will land overnight or early morning in Fiji.
Has Fiji Football or the Oceania Football Confederation said anything about the case?
Not in anything Fiji News has seen. None of the reports reviewed for this article — from the ABC, the BBC, Heavy or Nehanda Radio — carries comment from Fiji Football, the Oceania Football Confederation or FIFA, and none describes a finding that touches Fijian clubs, players or competitions. The commission hearing the case was appointed under the Premier League’s own rules, so it has no jurisdiction over football in Fiji.
