Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has used a gathering of European football’s most powerful executives to insist the club’s battle over the Premier League’s financial charges is nowhere near finished, according to new reports.
Erling Haaland and others in Man City's squad will be wanting answers from the club's board.
More Videos
Over the weekend, it was chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak who carried Manchester City’s message directly to supporters. Now the club’s stance has reportedly been reiterated on an altogether different stage, one populated not by fans but by the figures who run the European game.
In the space of a few days, City’s defiance has moved from an open letter into the boardrooms of the continent’s elite, delivered in person by one of the most senior figures at the club: chief executive Soriano.
The news adds another layer to the resolve shown by the Etihad Stadium hierarchy, and is further confirmation that City have no intention of quietly accepting the verdict that was first leaked last week.
Spain captain and former Manchester City midfielder Rodri has backed his former club's innocence following reports that the independent commission found City guilty on 114 of their alleged 115 Premier League financial rule breaches.cityxtra.co.uk"We Will Believe The Club" - Rodri Backs Man City's Innocence Despite Guilty Verdict Reports
Spain captain and former Manchester City midfielder Rodri has backed his former club's innocence following reports that the independent commission found City guilty on 114 of their alleged 115 Premier League financial rule breaches.
Soriano’s Message to Europe's Elite
His message was delivered ahead of a general assembly of European Football Clubs (EFC) in Copenhagen, an event that has drawn several hundred of the game’s senior figures.
The night before that assembly, the organisation’s 30-person - a group Soriano was appointed to on behalf of the Premier League in 2023, and one presided over by Paris Saint-Germain chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi - convened seperately.
Per accounts from those present, relayed by The Athletic, Soriano felt he had to confront the reporting directly, informing his fellow executives that he rejected the independent commission’s findings and that the club would press on with its fight.
The Spaniard, who has held the chief executive role since 2012, was not shy about the remaning timescale involved. “It has taken eight years to reach this point and it will still take much more time,” he told the board.
When approached by reporters once the meeting had broken up, the ex-Barcelona executive declined to comment further.
An Echo of the Chairman’s Letter
Soriano’s private address to his peers closely mirrored the words Al Mubarak had chosen for supporters 48 hours earlier. In his open letter, the chairman had struck the same defiant note.
“Here’s what I said to my family: the Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began,” Al Mubarak wrote.
From the boardroom to fan relations, Manchester City are still presenting an incredibly confident front and insist that the reported findings mark the start of the next phase of the fight, not the conclusion of it.
The Long Road to This Point
The roots of the saga reach back to November 2018, when the German publication Der Spiegel put a cache of leaked financial documents relating to the club into the public domain. UEFA acted quickly, accusing City of breaking European football’s financial fair play rules and, in February 2020, handing them a two-year exclusion from continental competition.
That punishment was famously thrown out at the Court of Arbitration for Sport barely five months on, although the club did have to pay a fine of roughly €10 million (£8.6 million) as a penalty for their non-cooperation with the inquiry.
In February 2023, the Premier League confirmed 115 charges against the club, covering alleged failures to hand over accurate financial figures and information on sums paid to its footballers and staff, together with breaches of both UEFA’s regulations and the domestic profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). City have rejected all of it at every stage.
What Happens Next
Those charges were at last put before an independent panel towards the end of 2024, in proceedings that lasted 12 weeks.
The panel is then thought to have taken the best part of two years to settle on its conclusions, which were delivered to the two sides before being circulated to the competition’s other clubs. Notably, the Premier League has so far declined either to release the ruling or to utter a word about it publicly.
City now have a fortnight in which to appeal the finding on liability, and will be anxious to see that challenge heard by a fresh panel before any ruling is made on the sanctions they could ultimately face.
Soriano’s intervention in Copenhagen suggests the club will explore every route open to them - and that, whatever the reported outcome, this is a contest City mean to take to the bitter end.