Man City and 115 charges: What to know about the controversy engulfing the top English soccer team

It’s a saga that has gripped English soccer and beyond: Did Manchester City engage in large-scale rule-breaking in an effort to transform itself into a global superpower that has won multiple Premier League titles and the Champions League?

The answer, it appears, is yes.

In a stunning development Friday, several media outlets — including the BBC — reported that City has been found guilty of almost all of the 115 charges leveled against the Abu Dhabi-controlled club by the Premier League for alleged breaches of financial rules for much of the last two decades.

There still has been no official announcement of the verdict that could have seismic ramifications in the English game for years to come. City, after all, has been the dominant force in the country since 2012, with its expensively assembled squads — featuring top players like Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland — winning eight Premier League titles, many domestic cups and the Champions League in 2023.

In that period, the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United — the neighbor in whose shadow City lived for so long — were mostly left trophyless.

“I think it’s going to be the biggest case of its kind in English football history, without a doubt,” said Dave Powell, a soccer finance expert and lecturer at the University Campus of Football Business in Manchester.

Here’s a closer look at the case that everyone in soccer is talking about, and what could happen next:

In February 2023, the Premier League went to battle against its own champion team in unprecedented fashion, releasing a long statement detailing a list of 80 alleged breaches of its financial rules by City from 2009-18, the first nine seasons under Abu Dhabi ownership.

The violations included failing to provide accurate financial information and submitting inflated figures for sponsorship deals out of Abu Dhabi; hiding payments that supplemented salaries of managers and players; and breaching financial rules established by the Premier League and UEFA, European soccer's governing body, aiming to keep clubs financially stable by not spending beyond their means.

The league also accused City of 35 more breaches relating to its alleged failure to cooperate with the investigation from December 2018.

The charges stemmed from purported internal emails from City published by German outlet Der Spiegel which, it claimed, detailed schemes by the club to allegedly cover up true sources of income in a bid to comply with financial fair play regulations. The information published by Der Spiegel was unearthed by the “Football Leaks” website, whose founder is Rui Pinto — a Portuguese computer hacker.

The club did not dispute the authenticity of any initial published emails but said they were “out-of-context materials purportedly hacked or stolen from City Football Group and Manchester City personnel and associated people” and that it was an “organized and clear” attempt to damage City's reputation.

When the Premier League announced its charges in 2023, City said it was “surprised” by the allegations and that it welcomed an investigation by an independent commission “to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence that exists in support of its position.”

In responding Friday to the media reports that said it was guilty of most of the charges, City said its position “remains consistent” with previous comments about a case that was “ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality.”

“The club has diligently respected due process for eight years,” City said, “on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”

In a letter to the team's fans, City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said the “confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began.”

The soccer world waits for the official publication of the verdict — it could run to hundreds of pages — from the independent commission that heard the case in late 2024. For now, the Premier League is maintaining a public silence.

Then comes the sanction, which will handed out after a hearing by the same commission that reached the verdict. When that is announced is set to depend on the completion of an appeal that City will lodge, a person with knowledge of the situation has told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to respect confidentiality elements of the process.

According to Rule W64 of the Premier League handbook, there is a range of sanctions available to the commission, from a fine, to a points deduction to expulsion from the league.

For context, Everton was given a record 10-point deduction in 2023 — later reduced to six — for overspending in one financial period (three years up to the end of the 2021-22 season). City's charges are much, much wider — and unlike Everton, include a refusal to cooperate.

An appeal must come within 14 days of the decision and will lead to a three-person Appeal Panel being set up. Sky Sports is reporting that City could go to the High Court in London if it feels the process in the case was unfair and/or impartial.

UEFA previously accused City of overstating sponsorship revenue to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations, based on the same documents published by Der Spiegel. In 2020, UEFA ruled the club had committed “serious breaches” of those regulations from 2012-16 in handing out a two-year ban from its competitions.

That ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which said some of UEFA's allegations were not proven and others were “time-barred.” CAS, instead, imposed a 10 million euro ($11.3 million) fine on City for failing to cooperate with independent investigators.

If the verdict goes against City as reported, there would likely be compensation claims from many clubs who could argue they had been impacted by City's rule-breaking.

A precedent was set just this year, with Everton ordered to pay more than 35 million pounds ($47 million) in compensation to Burnley, which successfully argued to a disciplinary commission that it would have survived relegation at Everton's expense in the 2021-22 campaign had its rival been given its six-point penalty for the financial breaches that season.

It's unclear if City could be stripped of its Premier League titles, though a line in the competition's handbook — that the commission can “make such other order as it thinks fit” — leaves such an option on the table, in theory. Relegation from the Premier League would surely lead to the breakup of its squad of superstars.

Away from the field, any verdict implying rule-breaking or cheating would be a major blow to the reputation of Abu Dhabi, whose purchase of a top soccer club in England has been described by some as a soft-power strategy at a time when other Gulf states have invested heavily in the sport.

The ownership would be losing a loyal friend, too.

“I said to them, if you lie to me, the day after I'm not here,” then-City manager Pep Guardiola — the coaching mastermind behind most of City's title wins — said in 2023. “I will be out and you will not be my friend anymore.”

AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this story.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

FILE - The club logo decorates a corner flag before the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)

FILE - A general view of the Etihad Stadium ahead of the English FA Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Plymouth Argyle, Manchester, England, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)

FILE - A banner celebrating their title win is illuminated outside Manchester City's Etihad stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)

FILE - Manchester City players celebrate with the Premier League trophy after the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and West Ham United in Manchester, England, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Long before he was the top official at the U.S. Postal Service, David Steiner was a corporate executive surfing mid-oughts television when he came across Donald Trump on “The Apprentice.”

He was unimpressed.

“If that is leadership, if that's what we're telling people that our culture and our media portrays as leadership, we're screwed,” Steiner, then the CEO of Waste Management, said during a 2007 speech at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. “If that's leadership, count me out.”

“And for God's sake,” he added to laughter, “if I have to get my hair to look like that, if I have to do that to be a leader, you can definitely count me out.”

Nearly two decades later, Trump has migrated from reality television to the presidency. And onetime detractors — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, for example — now loyally execute his agenda.

Trump's effort to use the Postal Service as a tool to reshape American elections is testing whether Steiner will follow a similar path.

When Trump signed an executive order restricting mail ballots this year, Steiner moved quickly to finalize a rule implementing the measure, arguing he had little choice. But after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the effort, Steiner told The Associated Press that work had stopped on one of the plan's most controversial elements, a government portal for voter rolls.

He refused to endorse the Republican president's order as sound policy, saying he was focused on implementation and letting the courts ultimately decide the matter.

“I don't get to decide what rules that are put on us that I decide to accept or not accept,” he said. “We are an independent agency of the executive branch.”

The episode prompted fierce criticism of Steiner for allowing Trump to deploy an agency designed to be shielded from politics.

Jena Griswold, Colorado's Democratic secretary of state, called him a “Trump lackey.” Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, recently asked Congress to deploy observers to ensure postal workers can scan envelopes holding mail ballots without disruption, saying the Trump administration "has attempted to weaponize federal agencies to interfere in our elections, and the leadership at USPS is going along with it.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., accused Steiner of being a Trump “pawn” during a congressional hearing this summer. Dozens of congressional Democrats have pressed Steiner to reveal his interactions with the White House during the development of the mail ballot rule.

Some Republicans have joined in the criticism. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, incensed by abandoned mail, called for Steiner's resignation and introduced legislation to block him from receiving a bonus.

During a lengthy interview, Steiner seemed surprised at points by his reception in Washington. He insisted he wasn't a “political person” and said he had no intention of stepping down despite the criticism. He dismissed heated congressional appearances as “theater” at odds with more substantive private interactions on Capitol Hill.

Steiner was chagrined, however, at the mention of his 2007 remarks on Trump, delivered well before he launched a political career. Steiner recalled speaking at the university but said he didn't remember his comments, acknowledging a tendency to be “flippant.”

“That's funny,” he said. “I don't recall it.”

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment on Steiner's remarks or his stewardship of the Postal Service.

The Postal Service dates to Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster general, whose portrait and bust are displayed in Steiner's office overlooking the Washington Wharf. The agency has more than 630,000 employees, dwarfing many Cabinet departments.

While the quickest way to top jobs in Trump's Washington is often by writing big checks, the 66-year-old Steiner doesn’t appear to have followed that course. He has largely donated to Republicans but also gave to John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004. Unlike his predecessor as postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, Steiner was not a major GOP donor or Trump backer.

Born in Oakland, California, as one of eight children to a father who spent his career at Chevron, Steiner worked in corporate and securities law before moving to Waste Management in 2000. He became CEO in 2004 and ran the company for 12 years. He was also a longtime director at FedEx, where board chairman Brad Martin recalled him as “outcome oriented” and rarely political.

“He's going to follow the rules. He's going to follow the law,” Martin said. “I don't recall us ever talking politics.”

By the time a headhunter contacted Steiner about the postmaster general job, he was largely removed from daily corporate life and initially demurred.

“I talked to my wife, and we both agreed I was happily retired," he said.

He changed his mind, he said, during a visit to the beaches of Normandy, feeling a sense of civic duty.

Now at the Postal Service, he earns about $346,000 in annual salary along with a relocation bonus that amounts to half his salary, far less than the $17 million in compensation he earned during his final year at Waste Management. His current role is designed to exist one layer removed from the political process, reporting to a board of governors that is selected by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

He was hired in 2025 by a board that was made up of five members, three of whom were Democrats. All but one were appointed by President Joe Biden. That makeup could change as four Trump nominees — all Republicans — await Senate confirmation. Steiner can be fired only by the board.

Steiner said he first met Trump along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the board's urging after he was already selected as postmaster general. Since then, he described a minimal relationship with the White House.

“We don't fly on the radar,” he said.

That is, until Trump revived his effort in March to crack down on mail voting. Steiner said he “wasn't in on the development piece” of the order and first saw it about a month before it was signed.

“They gave it to us to say, ‘Have your lawyers look at it, and how do you operationalize it?’” Steiner said.

The portal spurred a massive development effort inside the Postal Service while some states criticized it as federal overreach. A whistleblower report released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., argued the system was hastily built and riddled with errors, though Steiner said he was confident it could have been unveiled around Sept. 15.

“The heavy lifting was clearly, clearly the IT work,” Steiner said.

Though the Supreme Court dispensed with the rule, the dynamics for the Postal Service don't get easier.

The agency posted a $9 billion net loss last year, and Steiner has warned it could soon run out of cash unless Congress lifts a $15 billion borrowing cap. Political hurdles have prevented potential cost savings from cutting service or closing some post offices.

And while Trump's executive order won't take effect, the Postal Service will still play a critical role in this year's elections. There are mounting concerns that mail ballots could be rejected for late postmarks. Steiner encouraged voters to get their ballots in a week before the election to avoid problems.

The Postal Service is a rare corner of government still viewed favorably with more than half of Americans, 56%, saying it was doing an “excellent” or “good” job in a Gallup poll conducted last year. That could change if the agency is seen as increasingly political.

Steiner, however, said Americans will judge the Postal Service by their experience of it.

“What they care about is when they get that wedding invitation after the wedding or when they send a package and it disappears,” he said. “If we want to have the trust of the American public, let's be the best service provider. Everything else is noise.”

Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Postmaster General David Steiner poses for a photograph at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)