Will Manchester City soon be relegated to the Championship, the second tier of English football? The crazy idea is theoretically possible as a long-awaited internal legal process in the world of football begins on Monday 16 September. The club, crowned champions of England for the fourth consecutive season on 19 May, must answer 115 charges for having violated the financial fair play rules of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) between 2009 and 2018.
Nicknamed the “trial of the century” According to the British press, the hearing is part of the legal assistance process within the English football authorities. “independent commission” The Premier League’s three-member commission will examine the allegations levelled against City by the league’s own governing body.
Everything is kept secret: the hearings are not public, their duration and even the place where the hearing is held are unknown. ” rehearsal “ It has not been disclosed, but media outlets across the Channel say we should expect three months of proceedings and a verdict in the first half of 2025.
The accusations against the club, officially formulated in February 2023 by the Premier League, are harsh and lengthy. On 54 occasions it was accused of publishing false financial information. On 35 occasions it refused to cooperate with the investigation by the English football authorities. On 14 occasions it is accused of having lied about the salaries it paid to players and directors.
Behind this litany lies a simple idea: since its acquisition in 2008, Sheikh Mansour Ben Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, has allegedly invested hundreds of millions of euros in Manchester City, disregarding the financial rules of English football, which oblige a club to balance its books, authorising a maximum loss of 105 million pounds (124 million euros) over three years.
These “rules of profitability and sustainability” English football’s rules are approaching those of European financial fair play and are supposed to prevent billionaires (or oil states) from buying victory on the pitch too easily. The steamroller that the team has become, author of a historic treble in the 2022-2023 season (English Championship, English Cup, Champions League), is far from having demonstrated the effectiveness of these measures.
UEFA suspension finally lifted
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