Man City accused of evading financial rules by La Liga president Tebas

Manchester City are set to face a fresh investigation after La Liga president Javier Tebas revealed that he has reported the club to the European Commission for allegedly hiding their costs associated with companies to manipulate their financial fair play figures.

Speaking at The Financial Times’ Business of Football Summit on Thursday, Tebas said: "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. The UK might not be part of the EU, but City have commercial activities in Europe and in July 2023, the EU ruling said that they could look at state-aided companies, whether they are based in the EU or not.

"So we asked for City to be checked. It’s very important that all clubs are subject to the same transparency rules and governance on both the sporting and financial side. We haven’t had a reply so it must be under the investigation phase. The City case is one where we believe they have put the losses on the companies that are not officially part of City Football Group."

The 62-year-old Spaniard continued as he accused the Premier League side of an "Enron" style financial scandal.  American energy company Enron shocked the world after reports emerged of a widespread internal fraud over several years. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2001, marking the largest bankruptcy in the country's corporate history at the time.

“You remember the case in the USA, the Enron case. They put losses into different companies. These are similar cases," insisted Tebas. We also reported City about sponsorship and capital contributions. 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 around.”

Tebas' accusations have nothing to do with City's dispute with the Premier League over the 115 charges of alleged financial rule breaches. City have not commented on Tebas' claims but repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the Premier League case, with the outcome set to arrive imminently.

 

February 27, 2025