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. 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.

The information published by Der Spiegel was unearthed by the "Football Leaks" website, whose founder is Rui Pinto - a Portuguese computer hacker. City has long maintained its innocence - and still does The club did not dispute the authenticity of any initial.

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 next steps in the case 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."