MANCHESTER CITY face being stripped of THREE Premier League titles if they are found guilty of breaching financial fair play rules.
Pep Guardiola’s side were today charged with more than 100 breaches related to nine seasons between 2009 to 2018 in an unprecedented move.
City, currently second in the table, face possible punishments including a points deduction, transfer bans, spending limits and even expulsion from the league and stripping of previous titles.
In the period concerned, the reigning Prem champions won three titles – in the 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2017-18 seasons.
It is not known what would happen to those titles, and whether they would be awarded to the runners-up, if City face the toughest possible sanction.
If the league title is simply handed to the second placed side, Man Utd could pick up two more titles – from the 2011-12 and the 2017-18 seasons. Liverpool finished second in 2013-14 and could stand to be awarded that trophy.
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However, it is also possible if City are stripped that the titles will go unassigned.
In the last case of a major team being expelled from a league, Italian giants Juventus were booted from Serie A over the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal.
They won both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 titles but were downgraded to last place in the latter season and relegated to Serie B.
Inter Milan were awarded the 2005-06 title, but the previous season’s trophy remains unassigned.
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It is not known what punishment City will face, if any, but the findings do not make good reading for the Etihad club.
Although they currently have only been charged and not found guilty, the investigation into the club’s dealings has lasted for four years.
That was prompted following the publishing of leaked documents by German website Der Spiegel – with the investigation focusing on three specific areas.
That was prompted following the publishing of leaked documents by German website Der Spiegel.
The first alleged issue is “under-age players were pressured to sign contracts with City through monetary payments”.
Secondly, that Abu Dhabi sponsors “provided only a portion of their payments to the club”, with owner Sheikh Mansour stumping up the rest, in turn overstating the sponsorship income.
Lastly, ex-boss Roberto Mancini received a “significant portion” of compensation from a “fictitious consultancy contract” when he left the club in 2013.
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Uefa slapped City with a two-year ban and fined the club £25million for alleged financial fair play breaches.
However, in 2020, that was overturned and the final fine cut to £9m by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Now the findings of the investigation and multiple alleged breaches have been referred to a commission.
It is also claimed by the Premier League that City did not comply with Uefa regulations surrounding club licensing and financial fair play in 2013-14 and between 2014-15 and 2017-18.
Another breach relates to Prem profit and sustainability rules in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.
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The Premier League also accused City of failing to cooperate and assist with the investigation.
As the club did in 2020 with the Uefa appeal, the Etihad side will likely establish a significant legal team of expert lawyers to fight their case.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
