UEFA is monitoring developments and will wait until the end of the Premier League's disciplinary process before deciding whether to take any potential action against Manchester City. City have been found guilty by an independent commission of breaking the Premier League's financial rules between 2009 and 2018, including five charges of failing to comply with UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules. UEFA financial rules at the time meant clubs were effectively limited to spending what they earned within set break-even requirements.
The independent commission found that City's owners put in £830m of their own money and disguised it as sponsorship income for nine seasons. City are appealing the decision and maintain they have a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence which will clear their name. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player In 2014 City entered into a settlement agreement with UEFA which included a £49m (£32m of which was suspended) fine after they were charged with breaking Financial Fair Play rules.
In 2020 City were found guilty of breaking UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, fined €30m (£25.4m) and banned from playing in European competitions for two years. City appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports and the ban was overturned, with CAS ruling that UEFA had not established that City's owners had disguised equity funding as sponsorship contributions, while other breaches were time-barred. CAS reduced City's fine from €30m (£25.4m) to €10m (£8.5m) for failing to co-operate with the UEFA investigation and stated that most of the alleged breaches "were either not established or time barred".
UEFA has a statute of limitations of five years for financial rule breaches, whereas the Premier League does not have a statute of limitations. UEFA's case was triggered by hacked City emails which were published by German magazine Der Spiegel in 2018. City said the internal documents were "out-of-context materials purportedly hacked or stolen" as part of an "organised and clear attempt to damage the club's reputation".
The Premier League investigation had access to documents and evidence which were not available to UEFA when it were building its case against City. City and UEFA have been contacted for comment. "The appeal went in on Thursday at 7pm and so, according to the Premier League's rules, the appeal has to be done and dusted in 12 weeks from then, which takes us into the week before Christmas.
"The appeal can only last five days and those five days can only be in one block. "The appeal panel, which has to be a different three-person panel from the original panel, would have 30 days to make up their minds and deliver their judgement. That would take you into the third week of January.
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