Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur could claim damages from Manchester City after an independent commission found the club guilty of 114 of 115 alleged Premier League rule breaches.
The verdict is subject to appeal. However, it could allow teams that lost prize-money revenue as a result of the alleged cheating to pursue compensation claims.
Clubs retained option to bring claims
The four clubs formally retained the option to bring claims against Manchester City in 2024, while the commission hearing into 115 charges was in progress. That was intended to ensure their claims would not be time-barred.
Manchester United finished second to Manchester City twice during the period covered by the charges, from 2009 to 2018. Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham could argue that they finished lower than they might have in various seasons during that period.
Simon Leaf, co-founder of Three Points Law, said the bar for bringing claims against Manchester City was arguably lower after Burnley was awarded £35m from Everton earlier in 2026. Burnley had argued that Everton’s breach of spending rules denied it a fair chance of avoiding relegation, although the claim was subject to appeal.
Potential claims would be complex
Fred Snowball, a partner at Macfarlanes, said Burnley’s successful claim had much improved the prospects of damages claims against Manchester City. He said potential claims would be enormously complex and, until very recently, largely unprecedented.
Snowball said modelling the impact of Everton’s overspending in the Burnley case had been very complex despite involving only one season. He added that players at rival clubs could potentially bring claims for lost prize money, bonuses and career opportunities, describing such claims as novel but not without foundation.
Paul Stothard, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, said the commission’s verdict would, if upheld pending an appeal, open the floodgates to further legal challenges.
Stothard said other clubs might pursue compensation for lost revenue, missed European qualification or relegation. They would need to prove how Manchester City’s breaches affected their ability to compete and demonstrate a quantifiable loss.
Possible sanctions and sponsor impact
Leaf said a panel could direct Manchester City to compensate other teams in the league and could potentially take titles away, adding that nothing was off the table.
He also said sponsors including Puma, Revolut and Asahi could terminate their contracts with Manchester City if the charges were upheld.
If the verdict is not overturned on appeal, Leaf said it could cause substantial long-term damage to Manchester City’s reputation and standing in the football world. He said the consequences could extend beyond any sanction imposed by the panel, including the possibility of sponsors terminating contracts early under anti-embarrassment clauses.
Source: City AM
