Man City lodge appeal against Premier League judgement

Manchester City have lodged their appeal against the damning judgment that they broke Premier League financial rules.

An independent commission found City guilty in a report released earlier this week.

City had until Friday to appeal and the club announced just before midday they had done so.

A statement on mancity.com read: "Manchester City Football Club can confirm that, at 7pm on Thursday 1st October 2026, the club lodged its comprehensive appeal against the opinion of the Premier League commission, in relation to the Premier League disciplinary matter.

"The club's firm position is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.

"The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions relating to this case.

"We will continue to respect due process and are necessarily restricted in what we can say further until all proceedings are complete."

It is understood City intend to present evidence to an appeal board that they say refutes the key finding of the original commission that owner funding was being disguised as sponsorship revenue.

The commission concluded more than £830million of such funding was used to inflate revenues and enable the club to comply with Premier League and UEFA financial rules through a series of "sham" arrangements.

At the heart of the club’s appeal will be an insistence that government funding, provided via the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court (CPC), gave financial assistance to sponsors in the emirate to help them to fulfil their liabilities to City, rather than Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) company, which owns the club.

The 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."

Confirmation of the appeal means the lengthy process still has some way to run, while the English Football Association opened the possibility of its own action in a statement on Friday.

"The independent commission’s decision has significant implications for the integrity of the game," said the statement on thefa.com.

"We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate.

"As proceedings between the Premier League and Manchester City Football Club remain ongoing, we do not intend to comment further at this stage. We will, however, continue to monitor developments closely."