Tebas accuses Manchester City and the TAS of damaging financial control

Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, posted on Sunday on his social media an extensive message in which he analyzes the alleged sanction by a Premier League body against Manchester City and recalls his 2017 complaint about the so‑called “financial doping”, criticizing the lack of sanction by the TAS.

In the post, Tebas emphasizes that his critical stance towards the citizen‑club model had been expected, as he has been denouncing Manchester City before various institutions for years. The Spanish official has noted that City has been the object of his criticisms on a recurring basis. The president recalled that his 2017 intervention aimed to warn about the effects on the entire football ecosystem.

2017 Complaint at Soccerex

In September 2017, during the Soccerex fair in Manchester, Javier Tebas publicly denounced what he described as financial doping in European football. He mentioned Manchester City and Paris Saint‑Germain, accusing them of being financed with massive external resources and of overvaluing sponsorships far from the real market. According to Tebas, that model caused inflation of wages, transfers and costs that affected the rest of the clubs. He added that the overvaluation of sponsorships forced teams to spend more than their ordinary revenues allowed.

Manchester City described those statements as “ill‑informed” and “pure fiction”. Moreover, the club announced that it was considering legal action against Tebas, a response he described as “not pleasant”. Tebas noted that City’s legal threat had generated a public dispute that intensified the controversy.

Tebas states that his complaint achieved partial success, as in February 2020 UEFA sanctioned Manchester City with two seasons of European exclusion and a fine of €30 million for serious financial‑control breaches. Among the reasons were irregularities in the reporting of sponsorship income. For him, the UEFA sanction confirmed that his suspicions of irregularities were well founded.

TAS Decision in 2020

In July 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) annulled the European exclusion, arguing that some conduct was time‑barred and other matters did not meet the required standard of proof. However, it upheld a financial sanction of €10 million and concluded that City had breached its obligation to cooperate with UEFA’s investigation. Tebas described the ruling as profoundly wrong and damaging to the credibility of the CAS as an independent arbitration body.

Despite the criticism and threats, Tebas maintains that defending economic sustainability is not a bureaucratic issue but a defence of the model in which sporting success depends on the management and generation of own resources. He asserts that clubs that manage their resources better can compete without the need for external financial backing.

The president acknowledges that the final sanction is still unknown and that the procedure continues, but he believes the case highlights the need for equal rules, transparency and economic control to protect football’s integrity. Tebas insists that the final sanction will be announced when the procedure set by UEFA and the TAS is concluded.

Tebas concludes that the battle for financial fairness continues and that the system’s credibility depends on its rigorous application. He reiterates his commitment to keep fighting for those rules in the coming years. He states that the same principles must govern football to safeguard its integrity.