Manchester City FFP Verdict Expected 'Within Weeks' as 18-Month Wait Reaches 'Extraordinary' Milestone

The Manchester City Financial Fair Play saga may finally be approaching its first chapter's conclusion, with a verdict on the club's liability expected within weeks, according to former City financial advisor Stefan Borson.

The Premier League launched its four-year investigation into City's conduct in early 2022, ultimately referring the club to an independent commission on allegations of breaching more than 100 FFP regulations. The hearing itself wrapped up at the close of 2024, yet no ruling has materialised nearly 18 months on—a situation Borson describes as "extraordinary."

"It's been very hard to assess where they are with this and why it's not out yet," Borson told Football Insider. "Everybody agrees it should have been out by now. At the end of the season, as soon as the season finishes, you would think it definitely will drop at that point because it will then be the best part of 18 months from the time of the hearing, which is an extraordinary amount of time for a liability hearing."

City have maintained their innocence throughout the protracted ordeal, with Pep Guardiola's operation continuing uninterrupted at the Etihad. Should the commission find them culpable, however, the club faces the prospect of substantial fines, a transfer embargo, and/or a points deduction.

The complexity doesn't end with a liability verdict. Borson flagged that proceedings could become significantly messier should a sanction hearing follow. "First of all, it's a case of what are City found liable for, if anything. If they are, is there going to be an appeal before a sanction hearing? If there's going to be a sanction hearing straight away, how quickly can that be organised?"

Drawing parallels with Chelsea's recent FA sanctions case—which took four months alone for the sanction hearing stage—Borson suggested the entire process could stretch considerably longer. "There's the period between the sanction hearing itself completing, and that hearing in itself might take a month," he explained. "There's then a period where we wait for the decision of the sanction hearing. Even the sanction hearings can have very long durations, so it's a mess in terms of when it's coming and when we'll get a final closure of this. It is really rolling on now."