Man City found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of financial rules, Premier League says

A statement from the English Premier League said an independent commission found that the club had arranged "sham" contracts and agreements to artificially inflate its revenues and reduce its costs.

Manchester City have been found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, the league announced on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Premier League said an independent commission found that the English club had arranged "sham contracts" with commercial partners to "artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs."

City has continued to deny any wrongdoing and issued a statement later on Tuesday saying it was "disappointed and surprised" by the commission's opinion. The club has until 2 October to lodge an appeal, which it has said it will do.

The commission found that City had arranged "sham" commercial deals with sponsors as part of a "disguised funding scheme," in which companies were only required to pay part of the relevant sponsorship fees.

"The remainder was funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club," the league said in its statement.

Further "sham arrangements" funded by the ADUG enabling the club to record lower operating expenses were also identified.

Copyright for this text belongs to Euronews.