The investigation that involved the Premier League arguing that Manchester City violated English competition rules started way back as early as September 2024. The charges which were launched in February 2023 relates to 115 alleged breaches of Premier League regulations as well as financial wrongdoing and refusing to answer questions regarding an inquiry.
Kamp was arrested on September 16, 2024, and the hearing at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London also began around mid-September and is likely to take approximately 10 weeks. Manchester City will present its case before three people, including and especially Murray Rosen KC, who will listen in with the Premier League. This has been to due the size and scale of the case, and the City’s alleged reluctance to fully cooperate with the needle investigation. In any case, the final judgment is expected in early 2025, which will be before the close of the 2024/25 season.
Key Charges Against Manchester City:
The 115 charges, grouped into five broad categories, include:
- Failure to provide accurate financial information (2009/10 - 2017/18): City allegedly failed to disclose its true financial state, with 54 charges related to inaccuracies.
- Failure to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager compensation (2009/10 - 2017/18): This includes 14 charges regarding off-book payments.
- Non-compliance with UEFA regulations, including Financial Fair Play (FFP): City allegedly breached UEFA’s FFP rules, leading to 5 charges.
- Breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (2015/16 - 2017/18): Seven charges concern these specific regulations.
- Failure to cooperate with Premier League investigations (2018 - 2023): City is charged 35 times for non-compliance during the investigation.
Central Allegations:
- Inflated Sponsorship Deals: The Premier League alleges that City disguised owner investment by inflating sponsorship deals with Abu Dhabi-based companies, which, if true, would mean City breached both domestic and UEFA financial rules.
- Off-book Payments: These include hidden payments to an unnamed manager (reportedly Roberto Mancini) and a player (rumored to be Yaya Touré). Such payments, if proven, would represent serious breaches of financial reporting rules.
- Non-cooperation: A significant portion of the charges stem from City's alleged refusal to fully cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation over several years.
Manchester City two seasons ago got banned from UEFA competitions for two years and fined €30 million for financial misconduct but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lifted the ban in July 2020. CAS acquitted City of the charge of ‘converting equity funding into sponsorship contribution’ which was the main problem in UEFA’s case and now the core of the Premier League’s case as well. However, City was fined €10 million for not cooperating with the investigation process of UEFA, which was considered a ‘serious violation”.
Although City has been labeled lucky, City didn’t win on a ‘technicality.’ Some charges were dismissed as being statute-barred, but the main allegations were considered. CAS was not “comfortably satisfied” that City had concealed the fact that they were receiving money from their owner Sheikh Mansour in the guise of sponsorship from Etihad.
City’s current Premier League example from last season, where the team faced 115 charges, and from that, it could be banned or have points deducted. If found guilty, City can appeal, and this normally would not be opened by CAS, but appeals are made using the premier league rules. However, the recent legal case where the city in June 2024 challenged rules on associated party transactions that they had won cannot help in the 115-charge case that is based on historical rule breaches.
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