Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur – as well as every other club in the English top flight – will be eager to know whether Manchester City were successful in their legal battle against the Premier League.
In February 2023, the Premier League charged its champions with 115 alleged breaches of financial regulations. These include accusations that the club failed to provide accurate financial information and failed to cooperate with investigations spanning nine seasons (2009/10 to 2017/18).
Man City strongly denied any wrongdoing, so they pushed to prove their innocence in front of an independent panel. The case – which was heard in private at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London – concluded late last year.
A three-man panel have been reviewing the evidence – and they're expected to announce the final verdict soon. It's said that if Man City are found guilty, they could be hit with a financial penalty or a point deduction.
In the meantime, shareholders of clubs in the English top flight have met to discuss a pair of deals with Coca-Cola and Adobe, according to City AM. The report states that Premier League chiefs had a meeting on Thursday, March 27, where they were asked to 'sign off multimillion-pound deals' with the two aforementioned companies.
City AM claims that shareholders also discussed the proposed 'Squad Cost Ratio rules', as well as Man City's legal case. Following a shareholders meeting in February, it was revealed that the Premier League's spending regulations – widely known as Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) – would remain in place for next season.
They were set to be replaced by SCR in the summer, but clubs in the English top flight agreed to stick with PSR for at least one more season. PSR currently limits clubs to losses of £105m over three years, whereas SCR would limit clubs to spending 85 per cent of their revenue on football costs.
SCR would also limit how much clubs spend on player wages and transfers to five times the revenue of the division's bottom-ranked club receives in broadcast and prize money. UEFA introduced a similar rule back in April 2022.
The new rules have limited clubs to spending 70% of their revenue onwages, transfers and agents' fees. Aleksander Ceferin, the president of the governing body, said at the time: "Uefa's first financial regulations, introduced in 2010, served its primary purpose.
"They helped pull European football finances back from the brink and revolutionised how European football clubs are run. However, the evolution of the football industry, alongside the inevitable financial effects of the pandemic, has shown the need for wholesale reform and new financial sustainability regulations.
"These [new] regulations will help us protect the game and prepare it for any potential future shock, while encouraging rational investments and building a more sustainable future for the game."
An official statement from UEFA added: "While the acceptable deviation has increased from 30m euros over three years to 60m over three years, requirements to ensure the fair value of transactions, to improve the clubs' balance sheet, and to reduce debts have been significantly strengthened.
"The biggest innovation in the new regulations will be the introduction of a squad cost rule to bring better cost control in relation to player wages and transfer costs. The regulation limits spending on wages, transfers, and agent fees to 70% of club revenue."
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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