Football News

Pep Guardiola faces fresh questions about allegations of financial wrongdoing by Manchester City Football Club. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he believes the club is not guilty of financial wrongdoing as it faces accusations of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules. Guardiola was asked more questions about the allegations after Everton was deducted a league-record 10 points last week for financial breaches. The league has accused City of dozens of breaches of its rules. 

They include providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period from 2009-18. Potential punishments could include a point deduction or even expulsion from English soccer’s top division. The severity of Everton’s unprecedented punishment has raised questions about the sanctions that could be imposed on City.

Manchester City’s 3-3 draw with Tottenham ended in fury for the champions, prompting Pep Guardiola to say he would not make a “Mikel Arteta comment” and Erling Haaland to write “wtf” on X after the referee, Simon Hooper, stopped play with Jack Grealish clear on goal in added time.

Chris Farnell advises leading Premier League and Football League Clubs, leading sporting and media agents and a number of high profile sporting individuals on a wide variety of matters.

Chris’ practice areas include: Sports, Media & Entertainment. He specialises in image rights, third party ownership issues, player transfers, intellectual property contracts, contract re-negotiations, sponsorship and endorsement contracts, defamation, sports dispute resolution, footballer and agent disputes, doping hearings, regulatory issues, and both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law. Find out more about this story and Chris Farnell lawyer here.

 Man City Premier League charges explained

In February 2023, Man City were charged by Premier League with numerous alleged breaches of financial rules; The Premier League has referred the case to an independent commission; Man City won their seventh league title last week and are on course to land a treble of trophies this season. Here, in the Chris Farnell IPS Law blog, we explore these charges, punishments and timecales. 

As Pep Guardiola calls for a swift resolution over Manchester City's alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules, Sky Sports News' chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol explains what are they, how serious the charges are and how long will this process take. The charges will clearly send shockwaves throughout the world of sport. 

Commenting on Tuesday, Guardiola said he will remain at the club next season, even with the spectre of the alleged rule breaches hanging over them.

"Maybe we did something wrong, everyone will know it, and if we are like we believe we are, like we have done as a club for many years in the right way, then the people stop talking about that. We would love it tomorrow.

"Hopefully they are not so busy, and judges can see it and listen to both sides, and at the end decide what is the best. Because in the end, I know firmly that what we won on the pitch we deserve it, I don't have any doubts."

The Premier League has charged Manchester City with breaching its rules on more than 100 occasions over multiple years. If proven these would be the greatest offences committed by a club in the history of the competition.

The independent commission which will consider the charges could recommend that City be expelled from the competition, suspended or docked points if it finds the club guilty. Those sanctions are listed in the Premier League’s handbook but a commission is clear to apply any punishment it considers appropriate.

The six-times Premier League champions have been accused of failing to give “a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”, of failing to “include full details” of player and manager remuneration, of failing to comply with rules regarding financial fair play and failing to cooperate in a Premier League investigation that has concluded after more than four years.

Find out more about these charges and the latest football legal news, check back on the law blog soon. Learn more about Chris Farnell and read his latest news online on this Chris Farnell blog. Make sure you leave your comment and subscribe below. 

New Term for Head of FLF

Welcome back to our football law news blog. Chris Farnell is a sports lawyer from Hale in Altringham. He owns the firm IPS Law, that represents major players, organisation and club, not just in football but other sports also. In this unofficial blog we keep up on the latest news at the head of the game. 

Paul Philipp has been re-elected as president of the Luxembourg Football Federation (FLF), the umbrella organisation for football clubs in Luxembourg, for a further four years. Philipp, who has been at the helm of Luxembourg’s association for the past 18 years, was confirmed in office at the FLF’s 104th Congress in Strassen on the 15th of this month. 

Mr Paul Philipp was reelected President of the Luxembourg Football Federation (FLF) for an additional four-year term until 2026. He obtained more votes than Luxembourgish global fund and asset management industry professional Mr Claude Kremer. 

Mr Paul Philipp first took office in 2004 and will serve another four-year term after being reelected on 15 October at the FLF’s 104th Congress held in the central Luxembourgish commune of Strasse.

"We will take care of football," Philipp said after his re-election in thanking delegates for their trust. "We're going to try to do everything a little better, and to be available all the time.”

We will try to be attentive,” he added, while emphasising the need for firm decision-making for the good of football in the Grand Duchy. “This is why we are respected, and sometimes criticised,“ he reflected.

Philipp was first elected as FLF president in 2004. Previously, he had played 54 matches for Luxembourg’s national team between 1968 and 1982, before going on to coach the national team from 1985 to 2001. The Luxembourg Football Federation is the governing body of football in Luxembourg. It organises the Luxembourg Football League and the Luxembourg national football team. It is based in Mondercange, to the south of Luxembourg City.

For more football and sports law news make sure you check back soon for more posts. Find more about Chris Farnell Charlton here. For more sports news read the Chris Farnell IPS Law blog also. Make sure you subscribe and leave your comments below. More to come soon! 

£20M Negligence Suit for Breach of Duty

Welcome to the Chris Farnell football news and sports law news blog. London firm Mishcon de Reya has admitted breach of duty by failing to file a hard copy of an appeal bundle in time on behalf of a former Premier League football club, the High Court heard today. The claim centres on the signing of midfielder Ricardo Alvarez.

The firm accepts it failed to file Sunderland AFC’s appeal bundle in hard copy with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in time during a long-running dispute over the signing of an injury-prone player, but denies that the breach caused any loss to the club.

Sunderland’s professional negligence claim, which the court heard is valued at around £20m but is understood to now be for a smaller sum, centres on the signing of Argentinian midfielder Ricardo Alvarez from Italian giants Inter Milan in 2014.

Under the deal, the player joined the then-Premier League club on loan and would be signed permanently if a pre-existing injury to his left knee did not get any worse. Sunderland says that, after a number of injuries, Alvarez saw a specialist who recommended surgery on his right knee for which Inter Milan would not give permission – so the club terminated the transfer and the player’s contract.

Inter Milan brought proceedings against Sunderland in a case that ultimately went to CAS, which ordered Sunderland to pay Inter Milan €10.5m (£8.8m) plus costs.

Separately, Alvarez successfully brought a claim against Sunderland for wrongful termination of his contract, with the dispute resolution chamber of football’s governing body FIFA ordering the club to pay £4.2m plus interest.

The club appealed to CAS and Mishcon filed an electronic copy of Sunderland’s appeal brief in time, but failed to file a hard copy before the deadline. CAS dismissed Sunderland’s appeal and, on Alvarez’s cross-appeal, ordered the club to pay its former player £4.77m plus interest of £1.1m. Sunderland claims that, as a result of Mishcon’s breach of duty, it lost the chance to challenge FIFA’s jurisdiction and lost the opportunity to argue that Alvarez lied about his knee injury.

However, Mishcon argues that ‘it is inevitable that CAS would have dismissed Sunderland’s appeal’ in any event. CAS rejected Sunderland’s assertion that Alvarez made any fraudulent misrepresentations ‘in unequivocal terms’ on the player’s cross-appeal, Mishcon’s barrister Daniel Saoul QC told the court. Chris Farnell is a sports lawyer from IPS Law. In this blog we follow the latest news and views from the world of sports law. Find out more about Chris Farnell Charlton here. Follow Chris Farnell on Facebook here.