Whether they are found guilty or not, "Sham FC" will struggle to shake off the stain of years of alleged deliberate rule-breaking.
Manchester City’s Italian coach Enzo Maresca gestures during a press conference ahead of the UEFA Champions League first round day 1 football match against FC Porto at the Dragao stadium in September 2026. Picture: Miguel RIOPA / AFP
It is hard to know what fate lies in store for English club Manchester City.
But one thing is certain: they have been found guilty by the English Premier League of an unprecedented level of cheating between 2008 and 2019.
The Premier League announced this week that City had been found guilty of “all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period”.
This includes “sham” contracts and “sham” agreements “to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs”.
City were found to have overstated their revenues by £855.2 million (about R18 billion) and their costs by £66.2 million.
City have said they will appeal the decision, saying they have “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence.”
And that is a process that could drag on for some time.
If the guilty verdict is upheld, City could face anything from a hefty fine to a points deduction, to being thrown out of the league completely.
They could be stripped of all the domestic titles – and there were plenty – that they won over those nine seasons.
Whether they are found guilty or not, “Sham FC”, as they are now being called in many quarters, will struggle to shake off the stain of years of alleged deliberate rule-breaking.
