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English soccer club Manchester City was found guilty of breaches of Premier League financial rules after an independent commission investigated long-running charges against the club.
The commission said City used “sham” commercial arrangements to inflate revenue and conceal the true source of funding, leaving the club substantially over spending limits.
The club has said it will appeal, while the eventual sanctions remain unresolved and could have significant consequences.
English soccer club Manchester City has been found guilty of breaking financial rules, throwing the fate of one of the sport's most successful teams into jeopardy.
An independent commission, charged to investigate 115 charges, found the soccer club arranged what it described as "sham" accounts with several commercial partners to hide an additional funding stream of around $1 billion.
The club has repeatedly topped English's soccer's top division, the Premier League, since being acquired by the private investment vehicle of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE deputy prime minister and a member of the royal family in Abu Dhabi, in 2008.
In its long-awaited ruling, the report said Manchester City arranged commercial deals that meant sponsors only had to "pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees", with the rest of the funds being put up by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, the entity that owned the club.
The independent commission added that the soccer club intentionally hid the true source of its finances, and, had the accounts accurately been recorded, Manchester City would have been in breach of spending rules by a "very substantial amount".
The Abu Dhabi-owned club has signaled it will appeal the decision and has until Friday to do so. It said it was "disappointed and surprised" by the verdict and reiterated its innocence. It also vowed to be "relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums."
In a leaked video of Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano addressing staff, he described the claims as a "conspiracy theory".
English soccer club Manchester City was found guilty of breaches of Premier League financial rules after an independent commission investigated long-running charges against the club.