Hearing into alleged financial breaches by City begins Monday

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Pep Guardiola has confirmed that the long-awaited hearing into Manchester City’s alleged financial breaches begins on Monday.

The Premier League champions face more than 100 charges ranging over a nine-year period when they were trying to establish themselves as the biggest force in English football. The hearing into the charges will be held by an independent commission, which will be made up of three judges appointed by a lawyer who chairs the league’s judicial panel.

City deny the charges and Guardiola said yesterday that he welcomed the chance to clear the club’s name. The hearing will be held behind closed doors, and a verdict is not expected until next year.

“I’m happy it’s starting on Monday. I know there will be more rumours,” he told a news conference. “We’re going to see. I know what people are looking for. I know what they are expecting, I know what I read for many, many years. ... Everybody is innocent until guilt is proven. So we’ll see.”

The charges, which were made in February last year, came after a four-year investigation. The alleged breaches have hung over City at a time when they have cemented their place as one of the leading clubs in world football – winning the Champions League for the first time in 2023 and securing an unprecedented fourth straight league title last season.

City were accused by the league of providing misleading information about their finances from 2009-18 after being bought by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi in 2008. In that time, City signed some of the world’s leading players like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne, and won three league titles – in 2012, 2014 and 2018.

Guardiola was hired in 2016 and has overseen the most successful period in the club’s history, including winning the treble of the league, Champions League and FA Cup in 2023. City have won the title in six of the last seven years.

The club’s exorbitant spending has provided the foundation for that unprecedented success and prompted questions about whether anyone can halt its dominance.

The league has financial fair play rules designed to ensure clubs essentially spend what they earn from deals that are assessed for being at legitimate market value.

The charges came after an extensive investigation and the publication of leaked emails and documents, likely hacked, that were published starting in 2018 by German magazine Der Spiegel. The documents allegedly showed attempts to cover up the source of City’s income in a bid to comply with financial fair play rules operated by European soccer’s governing body UEFA and the Premier League.

City were also accused of breaches relating to their alleged failure to cooperate with the investigation.

Potential punishments could include a fine, points deduction, nullification of titles, or even expulsion from the England’s top division, according to league rules.