La Liga chief demands 'equal rules for all' as Man City verdict fallout continues

Analysis

FT Desk

La Liga President Javier Tebas has slammed Manchester City after the club were found guilty of over 100 financial breaches.

Man City are facing 114 charges brought by the Premier League relating to alleged breaches between 2009 and 2023. Most of the allegations concern the accuracy and completeness of financial information provided by the club, including sponsorship income, expenditure and payments involving players and managers.

The Premier League has also accused City of failing to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations, as well as the league’s own financial sustainability rules. In addition, 35 of the charges concern the club’s alleged failure to assist the investigation, including claims that it did not provide information and documentation requested by the Premier League.

City have denied all of the allegations and said they possess evidence to support their position. No punishment, including a points deduction, transfer ban or relegation, has been confirmed. In a statement, the club didn't deny the guilty verdicts and said that the process "remains ongoing."

Tebas has previously criticised Premier League spending power in the transfer market as well as "so-called financial doping in European football".

In a lengthy social media post, he recalled a speech he made at the Soccerex event in Manchester in 2017 in which he name-checked Man City and PSG as two clubs being bankrolled by "external resources".

Man City are backed by Abu Dhabi, while PSG have built a Champions League-winning squad via investment from Qatar.

In February of 2020, UEFA banned Manchester City from European competitions for two seasons and fined them €30 million after finding that the club had breached FFP rules. UEFA said City had overstated sponsorship revenue between 2012 and 2016 and had failed to cooperate properly with its investigation. City appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

In July 2020, CAS overturned the two-year Champions League ban. However, it did not completely clear Manchester City of wrongdoing. CAS found that the most serious allegations had either not been established to the required standard or were time-barred under UEFA's rules. CAS did, however, confirm that City had failed to cooperate with UEFA's investigation.

Tebas believes that overturn was the wrong decision.

Tebas responds to City

Read Tebas's entire response below:

"In September 2017, at Soccerex in Manchester, I publicly denounced something that had been worrying me for some time: the so-called financial doping in European football.

"I spoke about Manchester City and PSG. About clubs whose economic capacity did not come solely from their ordinary activities, but also from the backing of enormous external resources. About sponsorships whose valuation we considered far removed from market reality. And about the consequences that model could have on the entire ecosystem: inflation of salaries, transfers, and costs that would then end up being borne by the other clubs as well.

"Saying it had consequences.

"Manchester City publicly labeled my statements “ill-informed” and “pure fiction” and announced that it was considering legal action against me.

"It wasn’t pleasant. Nor was it the first time, nor would it be the last, that defending certain positions brought me threats, criticism, and plenty of headaches.

"But three years later, things happened that are worth remembering.

"In February 2020, UEFA sanctioned Manchester City with two seasons out of its competitions and a fine of 30 million euros after concluding that serious breaches of financial control rules had occurred, including issues related to the reporting of certain sponsorship revenues.

"Then came the CAS.

"In July 2020, it overturned the European exclusion. Part of the behaviors were deemed time-barred, and others not sufficiently proven to the required standard of evidence. It did uphold that Manchester City had failed in its obligation to cooperate with UEFA’s investigation and confirmed an economic sanction, reduced to 10 million euros.

"I never agreed with that “strange” ruling.

"For me, it marked a before and after in the credibility of CAS as an independent sports arbitration body.

"It struck me as a deeply misguided decision, extraordinarily damaging to the credibility of European football’s economic control system, and hard to reconcile with a principle I consider essential: the same rules must apply to everyone.

"That’s why, when I recall that 2017 intervention and everything that followed, I don’t do it to say “I told you so.”

"I do it because this story explains quite well a battle I’ve been waging for many years.

"Economic sustainability is not bureaucracy.

"Financial control is not a whim.

"And arguing that clubs should compete fundamentally with the resources they are able to generate doesn’t mean being against any specific club either.

"It’s about defending a model.

"A model in which sporting success doesn’t depend on who has the most powerful financial backing behind them, but on who manages best, generates more resources, builds better teams, and respects the same rules as everyone else.

"Defending this position has cost me a lot of criticism and not a few headaches.

"But I still think exactly the same as I did in Manchester in 2017.

"There are principles worth defending, even if they come at a cost.

"And this one, for me, is one of them.

"Now, almost nine years after those words at Soccerex, an independent Premier League commission has deemed 114 of the 115 financial breaches charged against Manchester City proven, according to the published reports.

"There’s still a way to go. The sanction remains to be known, and the process isn’t over.

"But what’s happened once again shows why economic control, transparency, and equal rules for all are essential to protect the integrity and sustainability of football.

"We will keep defending those principles. Just like in 2017."

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FT Desk

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