MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The biggest challenge to Manchester City’s Premier League dominance was due to start on Monday at a hearing into a slew alleged financial breaches.
On the line is City's reputation and punishment could be as extreme as expulsion from the league.
City, which has won the last four league titles, denies the charges, which include providing misleading information about its finances. It will be down to a team of lawyers to clear the club's name and finally quash accusations that have cast a cloud over its unprecedented period of success.
Manager Pep Guardiola confirmed on Friday that the long-awaited hearing into more than 100 charges of alleged financial wrongdoing was due to start.
“I’m happy it’s starting on Monday. I know there will be more rumors,” he said. “Everybody is innocent until guilt is proven.”
City was accused by the Premier League in February last year of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period between 2009-18 after it was bought by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family in 2008. City was trying to establish itself as one of the leading clubs in Europe, signed some of the world’s best players like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne and won three league titles — in 2012, 2014 and 2018.
The league's financial fair play rules are designed to ensure clubs essentially spend what they earn and commercial deals are assessed for being at legitimate market value.
The charges came after a four-year investigation and following the publication of leaked emails and documents, likely hacked, that were published starting in 2018 by German magazine Der Spiegel. The documents allegedly showed attempts to cover up the source of City’s income in a bid to comply with Financial Fair Play rules operated by European soccer’s governing body UEFA and the Premier League.
City was also accused of breaches relating to its alleged failure to co-operate with the investigation.
The hearing into the charges will be held by an independent commission made up of three judges appointed by a lawyer who chairs the league’s judicial panel. The hearing will be held behind closed doors, and a verdict is not expected until next year.
Potential punishment for a “serious breach” of the league's rule book is wide-ranging. Dependent on whether City is found guilty of any of the charges, possible sanctions include a fine, points deduction or in “extreme cases, expulsion from the competition” according to the league's rules.
City said it was surprised by the charges when they were made last year.
“The Club welcomes the review of this matter by an independent Commission, to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position,” it said in a statement. “As such we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.”
Guardiola has repeatedly been critical of the treatment of City.
“My first thought is we are already being condemned,” he said after the charges were made. “We are lucky we live in a marvellous country where everyone is innocent until proved guilty. We didn’t have this opportunity. We are already sentenced.”
Known as Financial Fair Play, the regulations are aimed at preventing clubs from spending more than they earn. FFP was established in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, which deepened worries in European soccer that clubs could go out of business if the cost of player transfers and wages kept rising.
City was fined 60 million euros (then $82 million) spread over three years by UEFA in 2014 and forced to limit its Champions League squad to 21 instead of 25 senior players after violating FFP rules. Ultimately City only had to forfeit 20 million euros of prize money after complying with the governing body's measures.
In 2018 German magazine Der Spiegel published the “Football Leaks” series of articles supposedly based on City's internal documents and communications. They suggested City had broken FFP rules in financial relationships with “related-party” sponsors from Abu Dhabi.
In February 2020 City was banned from UEFA competition for two seasons for “serious breaches”, including overstating sponsor revenue and failing to cooperate with investigators.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the ban in July 2020, ruling that some UEFA charges were not proven and other evidence was excluded as time-barred. The court “strongly condemned” Man City for obstructing UEFA’s investigation, though a €10 million ($10.7 million) fine was one-third of the original punishment.
Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed.
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Manchester City fans celebrate after Manchester City's Rodrigo scores his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)
In a busy soccer season when players have talked of going on strike, their union teamed up with domestic leagues to go to the European Union on Monday with a long-promised challenge to FIFA about how it adds new and bigger men’s competitions.
The European division of player union FIFPRO and the 33-nation European Leagues group filed a formal complaint on competition grounds, alleging FIFA fails to consult properly on decisions that are to its commercial benefit.
It is the latest dispute playing out in the legal arena, where FIFA has been pressured in the past year by rulings related to the European Super League, player agent regulations and — just this month — the global transfer market.
On the field, FIFA will launch a 32-team Club World Cup — including 12 from Europe — in the United States next June and July, and the 2026 World Cup, also in North America, will have 48 teams instead of 32 and last for one extra week.
FIFPRO said “the oversaturated international football calendar risks player safety and wellbeing,” and at a briefing played a video montage of Kylian Mbappé and star players talking about their increasing workload.
“You have so many competitions and we are happy to play but when it’s too much, it’s too much,” Mbappé said at an awards ceremony in May.
The France superstar is set to go to the Club World Cup with Real Madrid.
The complaint delivered Monday to the European Commission targets FIFA, which manages the calendar of protected dates for national-team games. Clubs must release players who are selected.
“The complainants are not seeking financial compensation from FIFA, but instead a fair and inclusive decision-making procedure,” their lawyer Mark English said, adding the EC was asked to make a “cease and desist” decision on FIFA breaking European competition law.
It does not cite European soccer body UEFA, which this season has committed hundreds of players to extra competitive games by expanding three of its men’s international competitions: the Champions League and Europa League for clubs, and the Nations League, which has a new playoffs system.
“We have some representation (at UEFA) and we use that,” English Premier League lawyer Mathieu Moreuil said, when asked why the European body was left off the complaint. “With FIFA we have literally nothing.”
Officials from leagues, clubs and unions once had a formal seat at the table with FIFA on its Football Stakeholder Committee. It was shut down in 2021 by president Gianni Infantino.
This season, Europe’s domestic leagues have had their fixture scheduling options squeezed by four extra midweeks from September through January now occupied by UEFA club competitions.
However, FIFA's new club event was compared by Belgian league CEO Lorin Parys as a threat, like the Super League plan by elite clubs defeated in 2021 by a fan-led backlash.
“Here comes FIFA through our back door whistling and yelling: ‘Surprise,’ saying: ‘We have got a present for you guys’, and it’s really the Super League under a different name,” Parys said.
The leagues’ grievance with FIFA is also in not being fully consulted during talks to agree the latest calendar renewal through 2030 for national-team games, which mostly force them to shut down lucrative weekend fixture slots.
FIFA has said its offers this year of talks were not taken up.
The complaint in Brussels, to the executive arm of the 27-nation EU bloc, also was joined by Spain’s La Liga and claims FIFA abuses its dominant position in soccer.
FIFA’s role, the complaint states, as governing body and regulator conflicts with its commercial objectives as a competition organizer.
FIFA previously suggested there was hypocrisy in European soccer, which sees clubs play lucrative offseason games worldwide, while it had a global duty to protect and develop the game.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
England's Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the UEFA Nations League Group F soccer match between England and Greece at Wembley Stadium in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
President of FIFPRO Europe David Terrier speaks during a media conference on protecting player health and safeguarding the sustainability of national leagues at the Residence Palace in Brussels, on Monday, Oct. 14, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Panel members, from left to right, FIFPRO Europe president David Terrier, LaLiga president Javier Tebas, AIC resident Umberto Calcagno and Pro League CEO Lorin Parys participate in a media conference on protecting player health and safeguarding the sustainability of national leagues at the Residence Palace in Brussels, on Monday, Oct. 14, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Spain's Lamine Yamal, left, and Denmark's Victor Kristiansen battle for the ball during the UEFA Nations League group 4 soccer match between Spain and Denmark in Murcia, Spain, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Soccer player Kevin De Bruyne is shown on a large screen, as panel members, from left to right, NISO executive president Kristoffer Vatshaug, EPL director of international football relations, EU affairs Mathieu Moreuil, FIFPRO Europe president David Terrier, LaLiga president Javier Tebas and AIC resident Umberto Calcagno listen during a media conference on protecting player health and safeguarding the sustainability of national leagues at the Residence Palace in Brussels, on Monday, Oct. 14, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)