Man City FFP: La Liga ‘report’ sets up ‘active case’ with Cityzens ‘accused of deception’ by ‘hiding costs’
According to reports, Manchester City have been ‘accused’ of ‘deception’ by La Liga chief Javier Tebas, who has commented on the ‘active case’.
Man City have been embroiled in a legal case against the Premier League since the start of 2023 after they were referred to an independent commission. This came as they were accused of breaching over 100 Financial Fair play rules between 2009 and 2018.
This sparked Man City’s Associated Party Transaction case against the Premier League, which was eventually ruled in the club’s favour.
It remains to be seen how this will impact Man City’s FFP situation, but they have insisted on their innocence. If they are found guilty, they could be given a huge fine, transfer ban, points deduction or expulsion from the Premier League.
A recent report said this verdict is expected to be announced in March, but a report from The Athletic confirms the situation brought up by Tebas has ‘nothing to do with City’s other dispute with the Premier League’.
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Confirming the news, journalist Ben Jacobs tweeted: “Javier Tebas accuses Manchester City of ‘Enron’ style deception and confirms he has an active case against the club with the European Commission, first filed in July 2023. #MCFC declined to comment. Club accounts are public record.”
The Athletic claimed ‘Tebas accused Manchester City of trying to circumvent football’s FFP rules by hiding their costs in affiliated companies and likened the situation to the infamous Enron accounting scandal of 2001’.
It is said that the EU is ‘investigating the case’ after Tebas ‘reported’ his ‘complaint’. The report adds:
‘The Spanish league made the complaint a week after the commission introduced a rule banning companies that operate within the European Union (EU) from receiving foreign subsidies that distort the internal market.
‘Tebas said that while the English champions are obviously no longer an EU-based company, they still play in European competitions and have “commercial activities” within the single market.
‘Tebas, who has a long history of contentious statements, made his remarks in response to a question about City’s dispute with the Premier League over its associated party transaction (APT) rules, which are primarily meant to stop clubs from banking inflated sponsorship deals.’
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Speaking at The Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit on Thursday, Tebas said: “What worries me is not the APTs, what worries me is the companies outside the City Football Group (Manchester City’s parent company) where the City expenses are sent.
“They have a scouting company, a marketing company. That’s where they have very high expenses. They invoice City for less money. City have costs that are less than if they didn’t have this circle of companies.
“All they do is they think about how they can avoid the rules and regulations. We have reported this to the European Union with facts and figures.”
He continued: “Taking into account their relationship with the sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi, we asked for these things to be checked.
“It’s really important that all clubs are subject to transparency rules and governance and real competition in the financial and sporting side of their business. If it’s not controlled — and we do control — it means football ends up in the hands of states.”
