Timeline of Manchester City's Charges: The German Bomb, UEFA's Overturned Ban, and the War with the Premier League

Manchester City has finally learned its fate after the Premier League found the club guilty on 114 of the 115 charges brought against them in early 2023. This legal battle with the Premier League management spanned two and a half years, but the entire affair dates back much further, following an earlier investigation by UEFA.

Here is a full timeline of the City case's development:

In 2018, German publication "Der Spiegel" published a series of sensational articles based on emails obtained from the subsequently convicted Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto. These articles alleged that Manchester City had effectively cheated, using various hidden techniques to circumvent both the Premier League's and UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules.

The first explosive publication claimed that City executives had presented £59.5 million in sponsorship money from Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad Airways – the club's kit and stadium partner – as if it had come from the airline, when in fact it was paid by Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment group led by City owner Sheikh Mansour, with only £8 million actually coming from the airline.

Once the fuse was lit, another story quickly followed.

It was alleged that Roberto Mancini had signed a £1.45 million per year contract with the club when he took over as City manager in 2009, but also received £1.75 million annually for a four-day-a-week consultancy role with the Abu Dhabi team Al Jazira, also owned by Sheikh Mansour.

Other potentially damaging allegations followed, including a claim that City officials backdated sponsorship agreements with Abu Dhabi partners.

For UEFA and the executives of rival Premier League clubs, this was evidence of a gross breach of a system of rules that all clubs had agreed to.

The suspicion was that, following their acquisition by Sheikh Mansour's group in 2008, City had found ways to pay players and coaching staff more than others, and that these moves were key to their era of success.

In 2019, both UEFA and the Premier League launched investigations.

While not disputing the authenticity of the emails, City described the allegations as “wholly false.”

In a strongly worded statement, they declared: “We will not be providing any comment on out-of-context materials purportedly hacked or stolen from City Football Group and Manchester City personnel and associated people. The attempt to damage the club's reputation is organized and clear.”

UEFA acted first, rejecting City's attempt at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to halt the investigation. In February 2020, they banned City from the Champions League for two years and fined them 30 million euros, finding them guilty of “serious breaches” of their regulations.

City stated they were “disappointed but not surprised” and immediately appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). With Lord Pannick leading a team of high-priced lawyers, their appeal proved successful, and the ban was overturned.

Two of the three judges found that most of the alleged breaches were “unproven or time-barred.” The ban was overturned, and the fine reduced to 10 million euros for a lack of cooperation.

City's lawyers defended the lack of cooperation by arguing that they should not be forced to comment on details contained in emails that had effectively been stolen.

After City tried and failed to get CAS to dismiss the Premier League's investigation, "Der Spiegel" delivered another blow.

In April 2022, they published Mancini's contracts, along with new allegations of image rights payments to former captain Yaya Touré and a contract between Abu Dhabi United Group and an offshore firm owned by the player's then-agent.

In February 2023, the Premier League announced that City had been charged with 115 breaches, a figure that became widely known. However, they later clarified that the actual number of charges reached 130.

Of these, 54 were charges for “failing to provide accurate financial information,” and 14 were for “failing to provide accurate financial reports for player and manager remuneration.” Both sets related to alleged breaches between 2009 and 2018.

There were also five charges for “failing to comply with UEFA regulations, including those on Financial Fair Play,” and seven charges for breaching the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability rules between 2015 and 2018.

There were also 35 charges for failing to cooperate with the Premier League's investigations between 2018 and 2023. Similar to the UEFA charges, the more serious allegations can be divided into two categories.

City was effectively accused of falsely inflating sponsorship deals (in an attempt to inject more money into the club and circumvent financial rules) and making payments through third parties to players and coaches to supplement their salaries (again, to circumvent the system). Unlike UEFA, there is no statute of limitations here.

Since the club's acquisition by the Abu Dhabi United Group, City has become the most successful team in the country. The "Citizens" have won eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, six League Cups, and achieved a treble that included their first Champions League triumph in 2023.

Last June, while the investigation was still ongoing, City took extreme measures. The champions launched legal action against the Premier League over its rules regarding sponsorship deals with parties connected to club owners. These rules were tightened after Newcastle's acquisition by Saudi owners, and City's action was prompted by the blocking of their proposed new agreement with Etihad.

The club stated that the rules on associated party transactions constituted a “tyranny of the majority” and an attempt by the established elite to protect themselves. City won the case, with the tribunal ruling that the regulations in force from 2021 to 2024 were unlawful and invalid. As a result, the league and its clubs, including ironically City themselves, face legal costs amounting to tens of millions.

New, replacement rules, which City strongly objected to, are now also subject to legal challenge. Although the two cases are unrelated, Pannick and Paul Harris, King's Counsel and key figures in City's battle against the 115 charges, were behind the victory in the APT case and hoped for repeated success.

The hearing for the 130 alleged breaches began last September at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution in London. The Premier League also spared no expense, engaging King's Counsel Adam Lewis and Andrew Hunter to defend its position.

Given the immense stakes, speculation about the outcome was feverish. Finally, this verdict is in. On Friday, September 25, 2026, the decision was delivered: Manchester City has been found guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League rules.

The shocking news caused chaos in the football world, and an appeal from City is inevitable. This will further extend the timeframe for the announcement of the final sanctions against Manchester City.