Manchester City have until Friday to submit their appeal after an independent commission found the club guilty of 114 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JANUARY 04: General view outside the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea at Etihad Stadium on January 04, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Chelsea Football Club/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Manchester City are fighting to overturn the guilty verdict(Image: Chelsea Football Club/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
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Manchester City will launch an appeal based on evidence which has already been branded “untrue” by the Premier League. And now the appeal is set to become even more bloody and bitter - and the feud between City and the Premier League could drag on beyond the end of the season.
City’s lawyers will argue that an Abu Dhabi government body - rather than Sheikh Mansour - provided the funding at the heart of the bitter financial dispute. City were found guilty of breaching Premier League spending rules and used “sham” arrangements to inflate figures and sponsorship deals to the tune of £900m.
But City will lodge an appeal by Friday’s deadline arguing that the financial top-ups were provided by the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court (CPC). City chief executive Ferran Soriano said in an address to staff after the Premier League verdict was published: “The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation – that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi. This is just not true.
“Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows that it could not happen and that it did not happen. This includes bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate the money did not come from the owner.”
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The Premier League’s 40-page core decision published on Tuesday shows the independent commission rejected the CPC explanation as “untrue” in its findings, adding: “We concluded that it was an ‘explanation’ that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to obscure and conceal the realities of the disguised funding scheme.”
City immediately indicated their intention to appeal on Tuesday evening, saying the commission’s decision contained “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.” City plan to challenge the Premier League’s assertion but it would seem unlikely there will be a complete U-turn.
The appeal board - appointed by the Chair of the Judicial Panel will have three members - will hear City’s defence but the appeal is already in danger of turning into a farce. Rival clubs are also queueing up to take legal action against City to sue for damages in the wake of the Premier League’s guilty verdict.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 5: Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chairman of Manchester City and Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Manchester City and Coventry City at Etihad Stadium on September 5, 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and CEO Ferran Soriano have pleaded their innocence(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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Former England defender Gary Neville has said the Premier League has “been dragged through the mud” by the whole case. Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast: “To listen to this, it is chilling.
“We always think that we’ve got an enormous integrity, the Premier League, that we are the sort of league that sets the standard, and that it’s other leagues that have got corruption, fraud, doping scandals, match-fixing, referee scandals.
“This is now coming to our country. This is now coming to our league. This is the greatest export that we have in our country. At the moment we’re being dragged through the mud.”