Soccer-Man City could face years of legal battles after Premier League verdict, experts say

Manchester City's case over breaches of Premier League financial rules could run for years, lawyers say, as appeals and further claims threaten to prolong a saga that has already shaken English football's ‌financial landscape. The Premier League said on Tuesday that City had used "sham" commercial contracts as part of schemes to inflate revenue and understate costs by more than £900 million ($1.2 billion) over nearly a decade.

Even with a ruling now delivered, however, major questions remain unresolved, including when any sporting sanctions would take effect and whether an appeal by City could delay their implementation. At the heart of the case is the League's financial rulebook, which limits how much ‌clubs can spend relative to the revenue and profits they generate.

The League alleged City inflated commercial income and understated costs over a number of seasons, which would have made the club appear financially stronger and potentially enabled it to spend more on player transfers and wages while remaining within the rules. The case has hung over the Premier League for years, raising wider questions about financial governance, competitive integrity and the League's ability to hold its most powerful clubs to account.

"Unless the Premier League take control and bang their heads together, and say, 'right, this is it,' it could take years," Yasin Patel, ‌a leading London-based sports law barrister, told Reuters. "There's clubs now looking to sue for loss of income, a bit like the Burnley-Everton situation.

That hasn't been resolved yet, there's an ongoing appeal." He was referring to the decision taken by the Premier League in June to order ‌Everton to pay Burnley around £35 million ($47 million) in compensation for the impact of Everton breaching financial rules in 2022 when Burnley were relegated. Everton rejected the findings and their appeal is to be heard in January 2027.

"There's others who will have been potentially promoted. There's trophies that were lost, European places that could have been won or lost, even certain players signing for Man City, who may have been signed by Hull or wherever, they lost the opportunity of that player," Patel said.

An independent commission found City guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the League's financial rules over nine seasons, as well as three of four charges concerning their failure to co-operate with the investigation. The club deny wrongdoing and ⁠have until Friday to lodge an appeal, which they have said they will do.

No sanction has ⁠yet been imposed, leaving unresolved the potential consequences for a club who have dominated English football over the past decade. It is unclear whether the sanctions will be announced before the appeal is heard, and whether they would take immediate effect, with a league representative telling Reuters they could not discuss the process for confidentiality reasons.

"I reckon their sanctions will be ⁠heard sooner rather than later," said Patel.