Defending champion Manchester City was dismissed by the Premier League on Monday (February 6th) before an independent commission on financial non-compliance grounds.
Bought in 2008 by Abu Dhabi United Group for 260 million euros, the Manchester City club has since become a reference club in the world of football. Thanks to this takeover, the Skyblues were able to invest heavily in the market and become the “club to beat” in the Premier League. But at what cost ?
The current second in the English championship is threatened with being excluded. The club is suspected of multiple breaches of financial rules (about a hundred). Among them, that of not having respected “the details of the remuneration” of former coach Roberto Mancini (2009-2013). If the club was, Monday, February 6, “welcomed by the examination of this case by an independent commission”, the Mancunians risk a loss of points like Juventus of Turin in Italy, demoted to tenth place in Serie A at the when the 15 points were lost.
What sporting consequences?
A sanction such as exclusion from the Premier League would be very problematic for Manchester City, who handed over the reins of the team in 2016 to Pep Guardiola. The Spanish manager has built and built a team with ambitions to win the Champions League. On the national scene, the club imposed its hegemony and its style with six titles of champion of England between 2012 and 2022. The latter had nevertheless warned his bosses by threatening to leave the club in the event of a “lie”. “If you lied to me, the next day I am no longer here, I will leave and I will no longer be your friend”, he threatened in May 2022.
Concretely, pending the conclusions, Manchester City risks:
- A withdrawal of points
- An exclusion from the Premier League
- Disclaimed Titles
- Exclusion from European competitions
- Exclusion from the transfer market
- huge fines
Manchester City, repeat offender
Already fined in 2014 to the tune of 60 million euros including 20 closed for violation of financial fair play, the Mancunian club has already been confronted with this kind of difficulty. They were even almost excluded from all European competition in 2020. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport canceled the sanction. Now the club hopes to get out of this complex affair once again and will have to wait for the decision of the independent commission to know the verdict.