LaLiga president Javier Tebas has extraordinarily accused Manchester City of an Enron-style financial scandal and revealed on Thursday that his organisation have called in the European Commission to investigate the Premier League side.
It was during a sit-down with reporters at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London that Tebas dropped his bombshell claims. Enron was an infamous multi-billion-pound accounting deception which erupted nearly 25 years ago in the United States.
Accusing City of artificially keeping their costs down by using related companies, Tebas added LaLiga had submitted a complaint to the European Commission in 2023 relating to City’s financial mechanisms, claiming they cause a serious distortion in the EU internal market.
City declined to comment, though insiders strongly refuted the allegations from Tebas and pointed to their accounts, which are a matter of public record, as proof of no wrongdoing.
It was during a remarkable press conference that Tebas said: ‘City were already expelled from European competition for two seasons but then they went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport – we call it a “court” but it’s not really a court of justice.
‘Manchester City were not condemned. UEFA was clear in the sanctions. In the case of the Premier League’s charges, I don’t know whether Manchester City will be deducted one point or 50 points or get relegated. All I know is the UEFA sanction was just, regardless of what CAS ruled.
Javier Tebas shared incendiary comments on Manchester City at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit on Thursday
The all-conquering English side was the focus of the LaLiga boss’ ire as he accused the club of an Enron-style financial scandal
‘Related parties need to be kept at arms length. It’s the same in every other sector, so why not football? When City Football Group bought Girona, they sent five players on loan. We checked the valuations. We calculated they were 40 times higher than Manchester City claimed. We used our valuation, and that’s why there was no complaint or sanction.’
Tebas has led the Spanish football league since 2013 and continued: ‘What worries me about Manchester City is something else. They have a group of companies outside of City Football Group. They saddle all their expenses to these companies.
‘For example, they have scouting or marketing companies who accrue high expenses. They invoice Manchester City for low amounts. It allows Manchester City to have a structure that circumvents the rules. We have reported Manchester City to the EU.
‘Even though they are an English team, and not part of the EU, they still have commercial activities in Europe. We first made the complaint in July 2023 and there are now regulations in place allowing the EU to look at companies like City Football Group.
‘There are two aspects. The first is checking Manchester City are not using other companies to cheat the system. The second element is a bigger battle to stop football ending up in the hands of State-owned entities without proper policing. Our case against Manchester City relates to two things. We take issue with some of the prices the club have paid. And we question who the club can saddle losses on other related companies that are not directly part of City Football Group.
‘You remember the case in the USA, the Enron case. They put losses into different companies. These are similar cases. It’s not just Manchester City, either. We have reported PSG to the EU. As for Newcastle, we haven’t done anything about them yet. We don’t have enough data.
‘I can’t speak to any sanctions for Manchester City on this matter yet. All I can say is when a company in Europe, in general, is seen to have distorted the market, they often have to return funds. We want Manchester City to be sanctioned. The case is currently in the investigation phase. We haven’t had a reply yet. Remember, the EU have lots of cases.’