Premier League financial punishments · Man City 115 charges
Man City's 115 charges vs Everton, Chelsea and Forest: every punishment compared
City's verdict has been reported but not published, and no sanction exists yet. What is confirmed and what happens next →
Every Premier League financial case, side by side
Premier League clubs sanctioned for financial rule breaches since the first PSR deduction in 2023, newest first, with Manchester City's case at the top. Every row cites the source we read.
| Date | Club | Heard by | Sanction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2023 | Manchester City Denied all | Premier League commission | No sanction yet |
| 115 charges, 2009/10 to 2017/18: inaccurate financial information (54), remuneration (14), UEFA rules (5), PSR (7), non-cooperation 2018–23 (35). Guilty on 114 of 115 reported 25 Sep 2026, not yet published. No sanction decided. Source | |||
| Jul 2026 | Chelsea Self-reported | FA Regulatory Commission | £10m fine |
| 74 breaches of agent, intermediary and third-party investment rules, 2009 to 2022. £10m fine and a two-window registration ban suspended to 30 June 2027. A suspended six-point deduction was set aside on appeal. Source | |||
| Mar 2026 | Chelsea Self-reported | Premier League sanction agreement | £10.75m fine |
| Undisclosed third-party payments to players, unregistered agents and others, 2011 to 2018 (over £45m reported); academy registration breaches 2019–22. £10.75m fine, the Premier League's largest; one-year first-team transfer ban suspended for two years; immediate nine-month academy registration ban. Source | |||
| Apr 2026 | Leicester City Contested | Premier League-run Commission, EFL rules | −6 pts |
| Losses over the £83m threshold in the 37 months to 2023/24. The EFL case passed to the Premier League on promotion in 2024. A separate charge for 2022/23 failed on jurisdiction. 6 points, upheld on appeal 8 April 2026, applied in the Championship. Source | |||
| Apr 2024 | Everton Early admission | Independent Commission | −2 pts |
| PSR: £16.6m over the £105m limit, three years to 2022/23. 2 points. The Commission started at five and reduced it for overlap with the earlier case, lost sponsorship and the admission. Source | |||
| Mar 2024 | Nottingham Forest Early plea | Independent Commission | −4 pts |
| PSR: £34.5m over a £61m limit, three years to 2022/23. 4 points. The Commission said the breach merited six and cut it for the plea and cooperation; the League had asked for eight. Source | |||
| Nov 2023 | Everton Disputed size | Independent Commission | −6 pts |
| PSR: £19.5m over the £105m limit, three years to 2021/22. 10 points, the first PSR deduction; cut to 6 on appeal in February 2024. Source | |||
Man City's date is when they were charged; every other date is when the sanction was imposed or confirmed. Points are the deduction that finally stood, after any appeal. Leicester's case was brought under the EFL's rules and handled by the Premier League after their 2024 promotion; the points came off their 2025/26 Championship total.
Four ways City's case is different
Scale
Everton, Forest and Leicester each breached one rule over one three-year period. City's case covers nine seasons and 115 charges.
Kind of breach
The points deductions so far were for overspending. City's charges are mostly about whether the accounts were accurate, as Chelsea's were.
Cooperation
Forest's early plea took six points down to four; Chelsea's self-reporting kept points off the table. 35 of City's charges are for failing to cooperate.
Plea
Everton, Forest and Chelsea all admitted a breach; Leicester fought on jurisdiction. City denied every charge.
None of that says what City's sanction will be. There is no tariff under the old rules: the commission weighs the case and chooses from the Section W menu (Rule W.64 in the 2026/27 rulebook), which runs from a reprimand to expulsion. What the precedents do show is the pattern commissions have followed so far: the size of the breach sets a starting point, and admissions and cooperation bring it down.
Why Chelsea were fined and Everton lost points
This is the comparison most people ask about. Chelsea's Premier League case involved more than £45m of payments to players, unregistered agents and others between 2011 and 2018, made by third parties linked to the club and kept out of its accounts. Everton's first breach was £19.5m. Yet Chelsea lost no points and Everton lost ten, later six.
The Premier League's March 2026 statement gives two reasons. First, it recalculated Chelsea's historical figures with the payments included and found that in no scenario would the club have breached PSR, so there was no overspend to punish with points. Second, it credited Chelsea's self-reporting, admissions and "exceptional cooperation": the club's new owners disclosed the payments themselves when buying the club in 2022. The case ended in an agreed sanction, not a contested hearing.
City's case sits between the two. Like Chelsea's, it is mainly about the accuracy of the accounts, but it also includes seven PSR charges, and City contested it rather than self-reporting. Sources: Premier League, 16 Mar 2026, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (payment total).
City's own record: two UEFA cases
City have been here before, though never with the Premier League. Both earlier cases were UEFA's, and the second turned on the same Etihad sponsorship questions as the 115 charges.
| May 2014 | UEFA settlement | €60m |
| €60m, of which €40m was withheld conditionally, a 21-player Champions League squad for 2014/15 and capped break-even deficits. UEFA settlement | ||
| Jul 2020 | UEFA ban, then CAS | €10m fine |
| UEFA banned City from Europe for two years and fined them €30m in February 2020. The Court of Arbitration for Sport lifted the ban, found the disguised-funding allegation not established, and cut the fine to €10m for failing to cooperate. Sky Sports | ||
The Premier League case is not a rerun of the UEFA one. It covers more seasons and more rules, and it runs through a Premier League arbitration with no route to CAS.
Before PSR: the older precedents
| 1994 | Tottenham | £1.5m fine |
| Fined £600,000, docked 12 points and banned from the FA Cup over financial irregularities, including illegal payments to players, under previous owners in the 1980s. An arbitration tribunal revoked the points and the Cup ban in December 1994; the fine rose to £1.5m. TBR Football | ||
| 2007 | West Ham | £5.5m fine |
| A then-record fine for breaking third-party ownership rules in the Tevez and Mascherano signings. No points were deducted. FourFourTwo | ||
| 2010 | Portsmouth | −9 pts |
| The first Premier League club penalised for entering administration. An automatic insolvency rule, not a finding of rule-breaking. Al Jazeera | ||
Frequently asked questions
Has any Premier League club been deducted points for financial breaches?
Yes, three times under the Premier League's own Profitability and Sustainability Rules: Everton in November 2023 (10 points, cut to 6 on appeal), Nottingham Forest in March 2024 (4 points) and Everton again in April 2024 (2 points). Leicester City's 6 points in April 2026 were applied in the Championship. Portsmouth lost 9 points in 2010 for entering administration, which is a different, automatic rule.
Why did Everton get a points deduction but Chelsea did not?
They broke different rules. Everton and Forest spent beyond the PSR loss limit, and points deductions are the standard sanction for that. Chelsea's Premier League case was about undisclosed payments, and the Premier League said that in no scenario would Chelsea have breached PSR had the payments been declared. Chelsea also self-reported the breaches and admitted them, which the League cited as mitigation. It fined them a record £10.75m instead.
Is Man City's case worse than Everton's or Chelsea's?
It is far larger. Everton and Forest each breached one rule in one three-year period and admitted it, disputing at most the size. City's case spans 2009/10 to 2017/18, covers five categories of rule including 35 charges of failing to cooperate, and City denied all of it. Chelsea's case is the closest in kind, since it concerned hidden payments, but Chelsea self-reported and admitted everything. This page makes no prediction about City's sanction.
What is the biggest fine in Premier League history?
Chelsea's £10.75m in March 2026, which the Premier League called the highest it has ever imposed: £10m for financial reporting and third-party investment breaches plus £750,000 for academy breaches. Before that, West Ham's £5.5m in 2007 over the Tevez and Mascherano signings was the record.
Have Man City been punished for financial rules before?
By UEFA, twice. In May 2014 City agreed a settlement with UEFA of €60m, €40m of it conditional, and a 21-player Champions League squad for 2014/15. In February 2020 UEFA banned City from European competition for two years and fined them €30m; in July 2020 the Court of Arbitration for Sport lifted the ban, found the disguised-funding allegation not established, and cut the fine to €10m for failing to cooperate. Neither was a Premier League sanction.