Finally, after years of build-up, perhaps English football’s biggest and most controversial contest is set to begin.
On one side, the Premier League. On the other, its defending champions and dominant force Manchester City.
City face 115 charges for allegedly breaking the financial rules of the competition they have won for a record-breaking four consecutive seasons.
Those charges will be heard at an independent hearing, which it is reported will start on Monday at an unknown location. Billed as sport’s ‘trial of the century’, it is expected to run for 10 weeks, with a verdict expected in early 2025.
It marks a defining stage in a legal dispute the like of which the game has never seen and which could bring seismic consequences for both sides.
This, after all, involves one of the world’s most successful clubs being accused of serial cheating by the very league it has dominated for years. A club at the center of a global network of 13 teams across five continents, owned by a billionaire member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, whose sovereign wealth has transformed the landscape of the sport.
The case involves an unprecedented catalogue of 115 allegations spread over 14 seasons, including multiple charges of subverting the regulations by failing to provide accurate financial information.
City have always strongly denied the charges, and while the speculation is intensifying, no one knows what the outcome – expected early next year – will be.
