This page keeps to what has actually been decided in the Premier League's case against Manchester City, what has not, and what the documents say. It is updated at each stage of the process and every contested sentence is quoted from the Premier League, the independent Commission or the club itself, with a link.
Where the case stands
On 29 September 2026 the Premier League published the independent Commission's redacted Core Decision. The Commission found every charge proven except one sub-charge about cooperation with the investigation, Charge 4(B).
Any sanction. The Premier League's statement says the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing with the independent Commission. No date has been announced, and no sanction has been decided.
Any appeal. Manchester City says the decision contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact, that the club is innocent, and that it will pursue the appeal avenues open to it. No appeal has been heard.
Friday 2 October 2026 is Manchester City's deadline to appeal the findings, according to the Premier League's statement.
Last verified 30 September 2026 against Premier League Statement: Manchester City FC, 29 September 2026, The independent Commission's redacted Core Decision (PDF), published 29 September 2026, Manchester City club statement, 29 September 2026.
What the case is
On 6 February 2023 the Premier League referred what it called "a number of alleged breaches" of its rules by Manchester City to an independent Commission (Premier League statement, 6 February 2023). The alleged breaches covered the club's financial information from 2009/10 to 2017/18, manager and player remuneration, compliance with UEFA's financial rules, the Profitability and Sustainability Rules for 2015/16 to 2017/18, and cooperation with the League's investigation from 2018/19 to 2022/23. The press counted 115 breaches; the Commission's decision refers to "well over 100 individual breaches of the PL Rules" divided into four Charges, numbered 1 to 4, with sub-charges 1(A) to 1(D) and 4(A) to 4(D).
A substantive hearing sat between 16 September and 6 December 2024. The Commission's decision on whether the rules were broken was published, in redacted form, on 29 September 2026.
What the Commission found
The findings below are quoted from the redacted Core Decision (PDF), published 29 September 2026, with paragraph numbers.
"The serious wrongdoing alleged by the PL against the Club by each Charge required strong, cogent evidence to prove that individual Charge. As set out below and in the Appendices to this document, with the exception of Charge 4(B) we were satisfied to the requisite standard that there was such evidence."Core Decision, paragraph 6
"As a result, and as set out in more detail in our Decision, we found each of the Charges proven against the Club bar Charge 4(B)."Core Decision, paragraph 7
The central factual finding concerns what the Commission calls the Disguised Funding Scheme:
"It was against that background that in early 2010 the Club devised a plan to disguise shareholder funding (i.e. equity contributions paid by ADUG) as 'commercial partner revenue' (i.e. AD Sponsorship income) – what we have described in Appendix 15 as the Disguised Funding Scheme."Core Decision, paragraph 67
On the financial statements, the Commission found that the club's income across the seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 "was consequently hugely overstated by over £830 million" (paragraph 101), with further sums of understated expenses set out in the same paragraph. The Premier League's own summary of the schemes is that they inflated revenue and reduced costs "by more than £900 million during the affected period". On cooperation, the Commission found that "The Club made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the PL investigation" (paragraph 157) and that Charge 4(B) was not proven. On evidence, it found that evidence given by "a number of important factual witnesses" for the club "was false in a number of key respects" and that certain of those witnesses "had been dishonest" (paragraph 29). The names of those witnesses are redacted in the published decision and are not repeated here.
The published Core Decision does not contain a sanction, and its appendices had not been published as of 30 September 2026.
What each side said on 29 September 2026
The Premier League
Its statement opens: "An independent Commission has found Manchester City FC guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League's investigation." Chief Executive Richard Masters is quoted: "This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history." He also said: "There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow." Source: Premier League statement, 29 September 2026.
Manchester City
The club's statement, as quoted by Sky Sports, ESPN and The National, says: "Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League commission, that has been published today." It says "The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions", and that it "will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe." Source: Manchester City club statement, 29 September 2026.
What happens next
Appeal. The Premier League's statement says the club "has the right to appeal the independent Commission's findings and has until Friday 2 October to exercise that right." Sky Sports reports that an appeal would be heard by a new three-person commission under Section W of the Premier League rules, and that the Court of Arbitration for Sport is not available for this process (Sky Sports on the appeal process, 30 September 2026).
Sanction. The statement says that "the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing with the independent Commission." No date has been announced. The rules allow a range of sanctions from a fine to a points deduction to suspension or expulsion, with no fixed tariff (ESPN explainer, updated 28 September 2026). Figures for a possible points deduction that have appeared in the press are predictions: for example, the Economics Observatory modelled what deductions of 40 and 50 points would mean for the table (Economics Observatory, 27 September 2026). None of them is a finding, and none appears on this site as a fact.
What this site will do. The status panel at the top of this page changes only when something is decided or dated, and each change is verified against the Premier League's or the club's own publication. Until the League applies a sanction, the Premier League table on this site shows the standings with no deduction, and the points deduction page shows what different sizes of deduction would mean, clearly marked as hypothetical.
Common questions
What are the 115 charges against Manchester City?
They are alleged breaches of Premier League rules that the League referred to an independent Commission on 6 February 2023, covering financial reporting from 2009/10 to 2017/18, manager and player payments, compliance with UEFA rules, the Profitability and Sustainability Rules for 2015/16 to 2017/18, and cooperation with the League's investigation from 2018/19 to 2022/23. The figure of 115 is how the breaches were counted when they were announced; the Commission itself describes "well over 100 individual breaches" grouped into four Charges.
What did the Commission decide on 29 September 2026?
It found every Charge proven except one sub-charge about cooperation, Charge 4(B). In its own words: "we found each of the Charges proven against the Club bar Charge 4(B)." That is a decision on whether the rules were broken. It is not a decision on punishment.
Has Manchester City been punished?
No. As of 30 September 2026 no sanction has been decided. The Premier League's statement says the issue of sanction will be addressed separately in a further hearing with the independent Commission, and no date for that hearing has been announced.
Can Manchester City appeal?
Yes. The Premier League's statement says the club has the right to appeal the Commission's findings and had until Friday 2 October 2026 to exercise that right. Manchester City says it will pursue the appeal avenues open to it. Sky Sports reports that an appeal would go to a new three-person commission under Section W of the Premier League rules.
What punishments are possible?
Under the Premier League's rules a Commission can impose a fine, a points deduction, or other orders up to suspension or expulsion, and there is no fixed tariff for a case like this. Any specific number of points you may have read is a prediction by a pundit or an academic, not a finding. This page does not predict a sanction.
Could Manchester City be relegated or expelled?
A large enough points deduction would affect the table, and expulsion is within the range of sanctions the rules allow, but nothing of the kind has been decided or proposed by the Commission. What each size of deduction would mean for the current table is shown, as a hypothetical only, on the points deduction page.
Could Manchester City's titles be stripped?
Points can in principle be deducted from past seasons, and no English league title has ever been taken away. Nobody has decided anything about titles, and the Commission's published decision does not address it.
Does the decision affect the Champions League?
As of 30 September 2026 no statement from UEFA about the Commission's decision had been published. The Premier League's sanction powers are domestic.
Which rules did the case concern, and do they still exist?
The charges concern seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 under the rules in force at the time, including the Profitability and Sustainability Rules. From the start of 2026/27 the Premier League replaced PSR with the Squad Cost Ratio and Sustainability and Systemic Resilience rules. Those new rules are not what this case is about.
What sanctions have other clubs received for financial breaches?
Everton were deducted 10 points in November 2023, reduced to 6 on appeal, and 2 more in April 2024; Nottingham Forest were deducted 4 points in March 2024; Leicester City were deducted 6 points in February 2026, applied in the Championship; Chelsea agreed a fine and academy transfer restrictions in March 2026 with no points deduction. The full list is on the points deductions page.