The European Commission confirmed Friday that it received a complaint from the Spanish soccer league accusing defending Premier League champion Manchester City of breaching financial rules.
La Liga President Javier Tebas stepped up his attacks against City on Thursday when he revealed he had filed the complaint in 2023 and accused the Abu Dhabi-backed club of causing a “serious distortion in the internal market of the European Union.”
Tebas said he believes City has effectively hidden costs by using outside companies to perform services.
“You can´t help but think this is to skirt the rules. So we have denounced it to the European Union because even though this is an English club, the European Union oversees any commercial activity inside Europe,” he told a news conference at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit.
City, which is also awaiting the verdict on charges of more than 100 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, denied the allegation.
A spokesperson for the Commission confirmed to The Associated Press that it had received the Spanish league’s complaint, but could not comment on any ongoing assessment.
Tebas’ complaint is related to regulations on foreign subsidies from non-EU states that could distort the bloc’s internal market.
City became one of the richest soccer teams in the world when bought by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi in 2008 and has gone on to dominate English soccer, winning eight Premier League titles and the Champions League among a slew of trophies in that time.
But it has faced regular allegations about its accounts in regard to Financial Fair Play regulations in Europe and England.
City was accused by the league in February 2023 of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period from 2009-18. During that time it spent hundreds of millions of dollars on players like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne and won three league titles — in 2012, 2014 and 2018.
City denies those charges.
Tebas has been heavily-critical of City in the past and previously accused the four-time defending English champion of “irreparably harming the football industry” due to its exorbitant spending.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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