With Manchester City being found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges levelled against them by the English Premier League;

Conrad Wiacek, Head of Sport Analysis at GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform, offers his view:

“The development is seismic for the Premier League and for English football as a whole. Given that the elite team in England over the course of the last decade has effectively been found guilty of cheating, with its punishment yet to be decided, the long-term impact of this will likely be significant. When compared to Southampton, which was found guilty of spying on opponents ahead of games and was kicked out of the EPL playoffs, Manchester City’s crimes are much more significant in magnitude.  

“Manchester City has effectively called into question the integrity of the league, which affects TV deals and sponsorship agreements and will likely have all manner of commercial repercussions for the league and English football. There could be further legal action from teams, players, and managers who have been impacted by the scale of Manchester City’s actions, and European teams and UEFA may feel emboldened to take legal action as well. While the process has been long thus far, it is likely that this is only the beginning, with the scale of the punishment likely to be the next focus and significant legal fallout to follow.

“It is likely that Manchester City’s own commercial sponsorship deals, worth $370.48 million for the 2026/27 season, making it the most commercially successful club in the league that season, will be affected. Sponsors and commercial partners may re-evaluate their relationship with the club and may look at contracts to see what legal action they can take, while others will look to see the scale of the punishment handed to the club before taking any action.

“What is certain is that one of the most successful clubs in world football over the past decade may be in severe difficulty moving forward.”