The Premier League said on Tuesday that an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to breaches of financial rules between 2009 and 2018 and the majority of charges relating to the club's reported lack of co-operation with the long-running investigation.
Richard Masters, the Premier League's chief executive, said in a statement that “the core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period".
Manchester City said the club were "disappointed and surprised" by the commission's verdict and that it was "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League".
The independent commission accused City of arranging contracts that misrepresented the true agreements with several commercial partners and relied on similar agreements with others to inflate their revenue and reduce costs artificially.
It said some agreements inflated City’s revenue and reduced their costs, creating the appearance that the club complied with financial regulations. The club denied that any such funding scheme existed.
The commission said that City would have breached both Premier League and Uefa spending limits had the agreements been reported accurately.
The Premier League said Manchester City has the right to appeal the findings and has until Friday to do so.
In response to the report, City said: "A comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions relating to this case.
"The club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums," it added.
"The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.
"The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.
"The club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete."
City chief executive Ferran Soriano addressed staff in a video in which he rejected the allegations and accused the commission of supporting the League's "conspiracy theory".
The Premier League said it intended for any appeals and publication of final decisions to be concluded "as soon as possible".
