Manchester City’s appeal against the verdict on the Premier League charges will reportedly be heard next month, and if it fails, any punishment will not be handed down until 2027.
According to the Financial Times, the hearing is pencilled in for mid-December and could run over several days. The Appeal Board’s findings on whether the guilty verdict stands are then expected in the New Year, with a decision on sanctions to follow only if City lose.
It gives Manchester City supporters something they have not had for a while: a rough timeline. It also confirms that the wait, which has already drawn complaints from around the league, is a long way from over.
When will the Man City appeal be heard?
City lodged their appeal on October 1. Under Premier League rules, a separate three-member Appeal Board has to hear the case within 12 weeks, a window that closes just before Christmas, so a mid-December date fits.
This is not a re-trial. City have to show that the commission made legal or procedural errors, and when they lodged the appeal the club said the ruling contained “clear material errors of law, principle and fact.”
At next month’s hearing, City are expected to argue that the disputed sponsorship money came from the Abu Dhabi government as a sovereign body, rather than from a private company.
What was City found guilty of?
In September, an independent commission found City guilty on 114 of the 115 charges brought against the club in 2023. The breaches of financial rules covered 2009 to 2018, and the club was also found to have obstructed the Premier League’s investigation until 2023.
The commission ruled that Manchester City used “sham” sponsorship deals to disguise more than £830million of owner Sheikh Mansour’s own money as legitimate revenue. It also found nearly £17m in off-the-books payments to staff and players.
City immediately and strongly denied the findings and called them “unsafe”.
Could Man City be relegated or expelled?
The rulebook lets the independent commission impose whatever sanction it thinks fits, anything from a points deduction to expulsion from the league. One pundit has already put a number on a possible deduction.
Expulsion, though, cannot simply be ordered. The commission can only recommend it, and the member clubs would then vote, with 15 of them needing to back it for it to pass.
When would a punishment take effect?
That part is still unclear. Even if the appeal fails and sanctions follow in 2027, nobody yet knows whether they would apply to this Premier League season or the next.
The final legal resolution could also drag on well beyond that, into 2028 or even 2029. City keep the right to lodge a separate appeal against whatever sanctions they are given, which means a second fight could start the moment the first one ends.
Verdict: December fixes nothing for Maresca’s side
For City fans, a hearing date feels like progress, but in our view it changes very little this season. The appeal only decides whether the guilty verdict stands. The punishment, and when it bites, is a separate question again.
The bar for City is also high. Arguing that Abu Dhabi’s money came from the state rather than a company is a legal point, not a fresh look at the evidence, and the Appeal Board only has to decide whether the commission got the law and the process right. Until that is settled in the New Year, the uncertainty hangs over every transfer and contract decision the club makes.
