Man City 115 charges explained - decision timeline, Premier League stance, potential punishments

Manchester City news includes a round-up of City's protracted legal battle with the Premier League in one place after the 12-week hearing and two years of waiting

Manchester City and the Premier League are awaiting the verdict of their long-running charges saga. City have been charged with 115 alleged breaches of financial fair play rules over a nine-year period, which started in 2009 following the Abu Dhabi United Group takeover and continued until 2018.

The club has strongly claimed innocence on all counts and has consistently vowed to clear its name. City have also been charged with failing to co-operate with the investigation into their finance.

Following a 12-week hearing, which started in September 2024, Pep Guardiola claimed the club were expecting to learn the verdict "within one month". A year later, the outcome is yet to be made public.

With continued uncertainty surrounding what could happen at the Etihad Stadium, The Manchester Evening News brings you everything you need to know about the alleged charges.

Where did it all start?

The charges were levelled at City back in February 2023, and the club strongly denied all allegations. The case is unprecedented in scale, and the outcome of the hearing, whether they are found guilty or innocent, will have significant ramifications.

Allegations of financial wrongdoing were first published by the German newspaper Der Spiegel in 2018, which claimed that illicit payments had taken place at the club.

What are the 115 charges?

The charges can be categorised into three areas: illicit financing, non-cooperation, and breaches of financial rules within UEFA and Premier League regulations.

Manchester City are accused of:

• 54x Failure to provide accurate financial information 2009/10 to 2017/18.
• 14x Failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments from 2009/10 to 2017/18.
• 5x Failure to comply with UEFA's rules including Financial Fair Play (FFP) 2013/14 to 2017/18.
• 7x Breaching Premier League's PSR rules 2015/16 to 2017/18.
• 35x Failure to co-operate with Premier League investigations December 2018 - February 2023.

Would Man City be relegated if found guilty?

Who knows? Given the unprecedented nature of the case, the scope of punishment may be unlimited, with all options on the table.

Relegation is a possibility - although it seems an unlikely one - as is the stripping of their titles, transfer embargoes, points deductions and fines. Maguire told the Manchester Evening News in April: "We don't know if Manchester City are innocent or they'll be proven guilty of any of the charges.

"There'll likely be a further wait before the tariff is announced and we find out whether it's a financial penalty or a points deduction, nuclear option which would be kicking them out of the league but I think most people think it's unlikely."

It is important to stress once again that City have strongly denied any wrongdoing and say they have irrefutable evidence to back up their claim.

Why is the outcome taking so long?

Put simply, the number of charges and severity of the accusations is why the case has taken so long. Comparing City's case to the cases brought against Nottingham Forest and Everton previously, football finance expert Kieran Maguire explained the differences.

"The Forest and Everton cases were, to a certain extent, very clear-cut. They were an open-and-shut case," Maguire told the BBC. "There was 50,000 pieces of evidence put forward by both parties.

"In the case of Manchester City, you're going to have to multiply that by probably a factor of 10, so we could be looking at half a million pieces of evidence, which have to be reflected upon by the three people in the commission.

"They're also in demand in their own jobs so trying to get them around a table on a regular basis isn't necessarily easy and that's why eight months later we're still not really further down the road in terms of a conclusion to the evidence referral and then making a verdict."

What have Man City said?

Upon the release of the charges in February 2023, City posted a strongly-worded statement denying all allegations and saying they were “surprised” by the Premier League’s accusations.

City say they welcome the independent commission, given their “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” of their claimed innocence. "As such we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all," the statement concluded.

Last September, Pep Guardiola said he was “happy” that the case was beginning, before suggesting that all other Premier League clubs wished to see City sanctioned.

What has the Premier League said?

Premier League chief Richard Masters refused to disclose the start date of the hearing when asked to do so by a Government panel at the beginning of 2024, on the grounds that the case involved private entities.

Further explaining why he failed to produce a date, Masters told the BBC: "Quite simply, it's not within our rules to be able to do so.

"What we do is we publish charges when they are made and we publish decisions when they are made. The bit in between is managed by an independent panel and they're very clear that they want that process to be confidential."

At the end of July 2025, Masters was asked about a decision once again. "You can ask but our rules are very clear, it's a confidential process so I can't give any information on timing or anything like that," he told NBC. "I can't add anything on that."

After former Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said the process was taking too long last month, Masters said: "The only point where I can speak publicly about it is when a decision has been handed down.

"I can't speculate about why or when, that's all I can say really. Daniel is not in the same position as me and I can't talk about it."