Soriano tells European club chiefs City will keep fighting financial case

Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has told fellow European club executives that the club intends to keep fighting its Premier League financial case, according to BBC Sport. He addressed a European Football Clubs board meeting in Copenhagen on Monday, September 28, before the organisation's general assembly on Tuesday.

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Sky News separately reported that Soriano raised the case during the private meeting and suggested it could take years to conclude. Its sources said he referred to the eight years already spent on the dispute and stressed that a resolution would require considerably more time. He declined to answer reporters' questions as he left.

The intervention follows reports on Friday that City had been found guilty of the vast majority of the 115 charges brought by the Premier League. BBC Sport said the allegations included inflated sponsorship income from connected businesses and payments outside the club's accounts to evade financial rules. It also reported that City would appeal and that other Premier League clubs were taking advice about compensation.

Soriano's position echoes the message chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak sent supporters in a letter published on City's website. Al Mubarak said he remained confident in the club's ability to establish its innocence. He explained that confidentiality prevented him from sharing the details underpinning that confidence and said the letter itself had been checked by lawyers before publication.

The chairman also directed supporters to City's September 25 statement and its original response from February 2023. In the newer statement, the club said important parts of the Premier League process were unfinished and remained confidential. The earlier statement maintained that City had provided extensive material to the league and welcomed an independent commission's examination of the evidence supporting its position.

No sanctions had been announced in the BBC's Monday report, and the Premier League declined to comment. Potential penalties outlined by the broadcaster included a points deduction, expulsion from the division or a substantial fine. None was presented as a decided outcome, leaving the reported findings, any punishment and City's intended appeal as distinct parts of an unresolved case.