Man City charged

MANCHESTER - Manchester City have been charged by the Premier League for breaching financial rules more than 100 times in the space of nine seasons.

The charges against the reigning champions relate to financial information regarding revenue, details of manager and player remuneration, UEFA regulations, profitability and sustainability and co-operation with Premier League investigations.

A statement from the league said alleged breaches were committed from September 2009 to the 2017-18 season and will now be referred to an independent commission.

Should Man City be found guilty, they face a range of potential sanctions including a points deduction or even an expulsion - though it could take years to come to a conclusion.

Comment

The club have yet to comment but Sportsmail understands that they are prepared to ‘robustly’ defend themselves.

Between the dates mentioned, Man City won three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and three Carabao Cups.

The Premier League said in a statement: “In accordance with Premier League Rule W.82.1, the Premier League confirms that it has today (yesterday) referred a number of alleged breaches of the Premier League Rules by Manchester City Football Club to a Commission.”

City have vehemently denied any breaches of financial rules but the investigation started in December 2018 after German investigative website Der Spiegel published documents from the Football Leaks cache which originated from the Portuguese computer hacker Rui Pinto.

It alleged that City had: overstated sponsorship income, with money being paid by the club’s Abu Dhabi owners instead of sponsors linked to the Gulf state; effectively doubled former manager Roberto Mancini’s wages via a secret contact with an Abu Dhabi club and broke rules over approaches to young players.