Man City FFP: ‘Likely’ number of points deducted revealed as part of three-pronged punishment

Manchester City are ‘increasingly likely’ to receive a ‘single-season’ points deduction of around 50 points as part of a three-pronged punishment following their guilty verdict.

City were found guilty of breaching 114 Premier League rules by an independent commission last month, as the panel found them to have used ‘sham’ sponsorship deals to boost they earnings by around £900m between 2009 and 2018.

The club have now appealed that verdict as they insist upon their innocence and claim they have ‘irrefutable evidence’ to prove it, in the form of documents showing that the sponsorship funds came from the Abu Dhabi government rather from their owners.

The initial three-man commission has already seen this evidence and ‘concluded it was an explanation that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme’, but City hope an all-new panel will rule in their favour.

Possible punishments include fines, transfer bans, points deductions, Premier League expulsion and titles being stripped, while the owners could also be removed by the Independent Football Regulator.

A report last week stating that City are prepared to ‘exhaust every legal avenue’ claimed that while the Premier League wants a punishment to be applied before the end of the 2026/27 season, a “worst case scenario” of City lifting the Premier League trophy while the case rumbles on “cannot be ruled out”.

The Premier League rulebook says the appeal should take 12 weeks, with 30 days set aside for the judgement, meaning a verdict by the end of January, but football finance expert Kieran Maguire doesn’t see that as realistic.

“I think the uncertainty will go on for a very long time. Not just months but years,” he said.

A source has told Football Insider that the Premier League are “very keen” to get the appeal wrapped up months before the 2026-27 campaign ends, with the report adding that ‘lawyer availability could be the biggest hurdle that prevents it from happening’.

Those of us hoping for a string of points deductions across multiple seasons are set for disappointment as sources from both the FA and the Premier League suggest the greater likelihood is a points deduction that would give City a chance of staying up this season.

‘A single-season points deduction of around 40 to 50 points is increasingly likely’, the report states, before adding that ‘City are also likely to be hit with an extended transfer ban and an astronomical fine’.

City can appeal the sanctions after appealing the verdict and can then request arbitration if they feel the process is flawed, before taking the case to the High Court.

Maguire believes City are ready or a “long and expensive fight” which could create a rift between the other Premier League clubs and force some sort of settlement.

“A lawyer friend told me that City have already started the process of creating noise and mess around the process,” Maguire says.

“If you look at what’s happened already it appears they are gearing up for a very long and expensive fight over this.

“Is the aim to persuade the Premier League to go to its members and say ‘This could cost us as an organisation £25m-a-year to fight it, do you want us to negotiate a settlement?’

“For the clubs like Ipswich, Sunderland, Brentford, they might see that money as coming out of their bottom line and – potentially – this isn’t really their fight because they were never trying to be competitive with Manchester City.

“The pressure has really been applied by two or three clubs who lost out on trophies or Champions League places. If this approach splits the Premier League then things get complicated.”