Man City Case Damaging For Premier League – Tebas

The handling of the 115 charges Manchester City are facing for alleged Premier League financial rule breaches has been “damaging” for the competition, says La Liga president Javier Tebas.

The club were initially charged in February 2023, and more than three years later there has been no publicly announced outcome.

A hearing into the charges – which City strongly deny – took place in front of an independent commission between September and December 2024.

No announcement has been made on when a decision will be reached, though it was widely expected to be in the first quarter of 2025.

Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London, Tebas said the fact there had been no verdict created “uncertainty” around the application of rules.

“It’s not just the delay, it’s the general situation,” he said. “When a great institution like the Premier League, when you have to have rules for financial fair play, you need to have a lot of legal certainty in the competition and among clubs.

“Citizens have to think that the system is fair to all, that it’s not arbitrary, that it’s objective. When you have this type of situation, you’re generating uncertainty and that’s damaging for an institution’s image.”

Speaking about the case at the same event, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said he “can’t talk about the timing of it”.

“I simply can’t comment,” he said. “Having spent three years not commenting, I’m not going to start now.

“Stepping aside from that [specific case], any regulator wants its judicial system to be efficient and work swiftly. That’s about as far as I can go.”