Tebas Hails Panel Findings That 114 of 115 Financial Charges Against Manchester City Have Been Proven

Nearly nine years after planting that idea on a stage in Manchester, Javier Tebas has finally received the news he had been waiting for. According to The Athletic, an independent Premier League panel has found 114 of the 115 charges of financial rule breaches against Manchester City to be proven. Only one charge was not upheld.

The club, for now, has not disputed the verdict. In a statement, Manchester City simply noted that the process "remains ongoing," leaving the door open for further steps before any sanction is confirmed. The Premier League, for its part, declined to go into detail: asked by ESPN, it said it would not comment on a "private and confidential process."

LaLiga's president did not stay quiet. In a lengthy post on X, Tebas recalled the words he spoke back in 2017 at the Soccerex event held in Manchester, when he was already warning about "alleged financial doping" in European soccer. That speech now carries, in his view, a different weight.

Tebas also took the opportunity to revisit the 2020 episode, when City managed to overturn at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) a two year ban from European competitions that UEFA had imposed for breaching Financial Fair Play rules. For the Spanish official, that CAS ruling was "a profoundly mistaken decision," "extraordinarily damaging to the credibility of European soccer's economic oversight system."

Financial sustainability is not bureaucracy. Financial control is not a whim.Javier Tebas

Tebas insisted that defending this model does not mean opposing any particular club, but rather protecting something more fundamental.

Arguing that clubs should compete essentially with the resources they are able to generate does not mean being against any specific club. It's about defending a model. A model in which sporting success doesn't depend on who has the most powerful financial backing, but on who manages best, generates more resources, builds better teams and respects the same rules as everyone else.Javier Tebas

LaLiga's president admitted that holding this position has cost him plenty of grief. "Defending this position has cost me a lot of criticism and no shortage of headaches. But I still think exactly the same as I did in Manchester in 2017," he wrote. He added that there are principles worth defending, "even if they come at a cost," and that this, for him, is one of them.

A Process That Isn't Over Yet

Tebas made clear that City's case is not entirely closed. "There is still a way to go. The sanction is still unknown and the process hasn't finished," he acknowledged. But for him, what has happened with these 114 proven charges once again puts on the table something he considers non negotiable: "economic control, transparency and the same rules for everyone are essential to protecting the integrity and sustainability of soccer."

The message closed with a promise of continuity: "We will keep defending those principles. Just like in 2017." Meanwhile, the English club maintains its position that "nothing has changed," as its chairman had previously stated regarding this same case, while awaiting word on what the final sanction will be.