Manchester City used “fictitious” commercial contracts as part of a scheme to inflate revenues and understate expenses by more than £900 million over almost a decade, the Premier League has claimed.

The allegations come after an independent commission found the club guilty of serious breaches of the league’s financial fair play rules.

The Citizens were found guilty of all charges relating to financial rule breaches over nine seasons, between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 campaigns.

The commission also found the club guilty of three of the four charges relating to its failure to cooperate with the investigation.

Manchester City denied any wrongdoing and said it would appeal, arguing that the decision contains “obvious material errors of law, principle and fact” and is therefore “unsafe”.

The Premier League also confirmed that no sanction has yet been imposed, leaving open the possibility of significant consequences for one of the clubs that dominated English football over the past decade.

Potential sanctions could affect titles won during the period under investigation, as well as future measures such as qualification for European competitions and the distribution of tens of millions of pounds in prize money.

How did the scheme work?

The independent commission found that Manchester City used contracts that did not reflect the true structure of payments during the period under investigation.

Several sponsors paid only part of the amounts officially recorded in the club’s accounts as sponsorship revenue, with the remainder being provided by the club’s owner, Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG).

The commission also identified agreements funded by ADUG that allowed City to record lower operating expenses.

The scheme allegedly enabled the club to inflate its revenues while reducing costs, creating the appearance that it was complying with the league’s financial rules.

In the final season under investigation, 2017-18, Manchester City recorded £145.73 million in sponsorship revenue, while sponsors paid only £11 million. The remaining £134.73 million came from ADUG.

That season, the Citizens won the Premier League title.

The commission also found that several club witnesses had provided false evidence during the hearing, with some accused of deliberately misleading the panel.

Sanctions as soon as possible

“The core decision … details how the club systematically breached the Premier League’s rules over almost a decade,” said Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive.

Masters described the case and the decision as “the most significant in the history of the Premier League”, but said key issues remained unresolved, most notably the sanction to be imposed.

“Now that we have the Commission’s decision, we are committed to moving quickly with the remainder of the process, to provide certainty to the League, our clubs and our fans,” he said.