La Liga president demands 'severe' punishment for Man City after guilty verdict on 114 charges

La Liga president Javier Tebas has publicly demanded that Manchester City face the harshest available punishment following reports that the club has been found guilty of 114 of the 115 financial charges levelled against them by the Premier League in February 2023. The Premier League has not officially confirmed the verdict and declined to comment on the reports, but the findings have plunged City into crisis ahead of what is expected to be a lengthy appeals process.

Tebas, a long-standing critic of what he calls ‘financial doping’ in European football, was unequivocal in his message to the Premier League. “I don’t know the exact rules, but I believe it should be the strictest punishment in the Premier League regulations regarding this matter,” he said. “It should be a punishment intended to set an example. This isn’t a matter of a father and his children — it is a punishment to ensure rules are followed. And violating the rules for over 10 years — no matter how minor the infractions — is a very serious matter. Therefore it has to be a severe punishment for the non-compliance. Not just to set an example, but because the rules were broken.”

The most severe sanction available to the Premier League is expulsion from the competition, a step that would require the backing of at least 15 of the league’s 20 clubs at a general meeting. Whether such an extreme outcome is pursued remains to be seen, and City have made clear they intend to fight the findings.

City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak wrote to supporters on Saturday to reaffirm the club’s position. “The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the Club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began,” he said. Al Mubarak acknowledged the strict confidentiality of the legal process prevented him from sharing the details that he said would explain the club’s confidence, but insisted every word of their previously issued statements “matters and holds true.”

City are expected to formally appeal the verdict, meaning a final resolution and any confirmed punishment remain some way off. The case, which centres on alleged breaches of financial and reporting rules spanning more than a decade, is widely regarded as the most significant disciplinary proceeding in Premier League history.