Manchester City Found Guilty on 114 of 115 Premier League Charges

Manchester City have been found guilty of breaching all but one of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League, according to reports from The Athletic and The Times on Friday, September 25, 2026. The independent commission has reached its verdict after a hearing that began on September 16, 2024, but sanctions against the club have not yet been decided, and City are expected to lodge an appeal.

The finding, first reported by David Ornstein of The Athletic, marks the end of a near two-and-a-half-year wait since the charges were first laid in February 2023. According to BBC Sport, sources say City were found guilty of breaking the majority of the 115 financial regulations they were accused of violating, with 114 of the 115 charges upheld and one not proven.

Direct Answer: What Has Been Decided So Far

An independent Premier League commission has found Manchester City guilty on 114 of the 115 charges relating to alleged breaches of the league’s financial rules between 2009 and 2018, according to reports from The Athletic, The Times, and sources cited by BBC Sport on September 25, 2026. No sanction has yet been announced, and Manchester City has not confirmed the verdict publicly, instead describing the process as “ongoing.” The club is widely expected to appeal once a written decision and any punishment are formally published.

Manchester City’s Response: Case ‘Remains Ongoing’

Manchester City has not confirmed the reported verdict. In a statement issued Friday and carried by the Associated Press, the club said: “The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality.” BBC Sport separately reported that City, when approached for comment, said the inquiry into the allegations “remains ongoing.”

City have consistently and strenuously denied wrongdoing throughout the process. The club has previously stated it holds what it has described as a “comprehensive array of undeniable evidence” supporting its position, and has rejected every one of the 115 charges since they were first announced. Neither the Premier League nor the independent commission has issued a public statement confirming the reported findings, and Reuters noted that City “did not immediately respond” to its request for comment.

Because no written decision has been formally published by the commission, the reported verdict should be treated as sourced but not yet officially confirmed by the Premier League or Manchester City. The Independent reported on the case’s two-year anniversary earlier in September that “no liability decision has been published and no sanction imposed,” with “all allegations” remaining, at that point, formally unproven.

Background: The 115 Charges Explained

The Premier League charged Manchester City with 115 breaches of its financial rules in February 2023, following a four-year investigation. The alleged breaches span the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons and cover several categories, according to BBC Sport’s breakdown of the case: accurately reflecting club finances, particularly sponsorship revenue; disclosing manager and player remuneration in full; complying with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules; and failing to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation.

The independent commission’s hearing formally opened on September 16, 2024, and reportedly ran for many months, with legal submissions continuing well into 2025 and 2026. The Independent noted that the two-year anniversary of the hearing’s start, on September 16, 2026, passed without a published decision, prompting fresh criticism over the length of the process before Friday’s reported breakthrough.

Who Is the ‘Hacker’ Behind the Original Allegations?

Much of the documentary evidence that originally underpinned the Premier League’s case traces back to Rui Pinto, the source behind the Football Leaks disclosures. Pinto, a Portuguese national who was convicted in Portugal over the hacking and leaking of internal football documents, obtained and released a trove of internal emails and files relating to Manchester City’s sponsorship arrangements and finances, beginning in 2015. Those documents were subsequently reported on by German magazine Der Spiegel and formed a key part of the material the Premier League used to build its case.

According to BBC Sport, Pinto’s lawyer has described the case as a “moral reward for all the dangers he faced and the suffering he has endured,” framing the reported guilty findings as vindication for Pinto’s disclosures. Pinto himself has faced legal jeopardy in Portugal over the hacking itself, separate from the substance of what the leaked documents revealed about City’s finances.

This is a different case from the separate, wider financial oversight story that has dominated European football’s business pages this year — the record summer 2026 transfer spending across the continent, covered in Lifebogger’s report on the market’s financial scale this year — but the City case has repeatedly been cited across the sport as a test of how the Premier League enforces its own spending rules.

Timeline: From Investigation to Reported Verdict

How we know: dates and events compiled from BBC Sport’s published case timeline and contemporaneous reporting from The Athletic, The Independent, and Reuters, as cited above.

What Sanctions Could Manchester City Face?

No punishment has been confirmed, and BBC Sport reported that, per sources familiar with the process, “all options remain viable” for the commission when it comes to sanctions. Football finance analysts and BBC Sport coverage have previously outlined a range of possible sanctions available to the panel, from a substantial fine at the less severe end through to points deductions or, at the most severe end, expulsion from the Premier League — though sources cited by multiple outlets stress no specific sanction has been decided or announced as of September 25, 2026.

Both the Premier League and Manchester City retain the right to appeal any sanction that is eventually handed down, regardless of the outcome. According to Yahoo Sports’ analysis of the appeals process, both parties “knew they would have the chance to appeal within” the Premier League’s own rules once the commission’s written decision is published, meaning Friday’s reported verdict is unlikely to be the final word in the case even if it is formally confirmed in the coming days.

Why the Process Took So Long

The nearly two-and-a-half-year gap between charges being filed in February 2023 and a reported verdict emerging in September 2026 has drawn sustained criticism. BBC Sport’s Hugh Ferris, addressing why the outcome had not been published by the two-year anniversary of the hearing’s start, pointed to the scale and complexity of the case — 115 separate charges spanning nine seasons, a large volume of documentary evidence, and extensive legal argument from City’s representation — as the central reasons for the delay.

The Independent’s coverage on the anniversary date described the case as marked by “incredible delay,” reflecting frustration among rival clubs and supporters who have waited years for clarity on one of the most significant off-field cases in English football history. The Premier League has not publicly detailed the specific procedural reasons for the length of deliberations.

Reaction Across the League

Neither the Premier League nor rival clubs have issued formal public statements responding to the reported verdict as of Friday, reflecting the fact that the commission’s findings have not yet been officially published. Separately on September 25, 2026, BBC Sport reported that the Premier League had joined other stakeholders in calling for reforms at FIFA, though that development is understood to be unrelated to the City case.

The scale of the reported findings — guilt on 114 of 115 separate charges — would represent one of the most sweeping rules breaches determinations in Premier League history if formally confirmed, covering nearly a decade of the club’s financial reporting during a period in which City won multiple Premier League titles and the UEFA Champions League.

Limitations of This Report

As of publication, the Premier League’s independent commission has not published a formal written decision, and Manchester City has not confirmed the reported verdict, instead describing the process as ongoing. The figures reported here — 114 guilty findings out of 115 charges — are sourced to The Athletic, The Times, and sources cited by BBC Sport and Reuters, but should be understood as strongly sourced reporting rather than an official, published ruling until the commission or the Premier League issues its own statement. No sanction has been announced, and any appeal process has not yet begun.

What Happens Next

• The independent commission is expected to publish a full written decision detailing its findings on each of the 115 charges.
• Sanctions against Manchester City have not yet been determined; the panel is reported to have a wide range of options available.
• Manchester City is widely expected to appeal once the decision and any sanction are formally confirmed.
• The Premier League has not commented publicly on the reported verdict as of September 25, 2026.

The case is likely to dominate discussion around the Premier League in the coming weeks, regardless of when a full, official written decision is published, given its implications for financial regulation across English football and the precedent it could set for future enforcement cases involving other clubs.

Sources

• The Athletic — nytimes.com
• BBC Sport’s breakdown of the case — bbc.co.uk
• BBC Sport — bbc.com
• What are the charges against Manchester City? — bbc.com
• What could the potential sanctions for Man City be? — bbc.com

Photo via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)