La Liga chief urges Premier League to hand out ‘strictest punishment’ if Man City found guilty | OneFootball

La Liga president Javier Tebas has called for Manchester City to be given the heaviest punishment available in Premier League rules if found guilty of financial breaches.

News emerged on Friday that City have been found guilty of most of the 115 charges brought against them, though chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak remains "confident" of proving their innocence.

The harshest penalty available is expulsion, which requires approval from at least 15 of the 20 Premier League clubs at a general meeting.

Tebas, who campaigns against ‘financial doping’ in European football, insists any sanction must address non-compliance and set an example.

"I don’t know the exact rules, but I believe it should be the strictest punishment in the Premier League regulations regarding this matter," Tebas said at London's Fifpro performance summit.

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Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has said the club remains ‘confident’ of proving its innocence (PA)

"It should be a punishment intended to set an example. This isn’t a matter of a father and his children – it is a punishment to ensure rules are followed.

"And violating the rules for over 10 years – no matter how minor the infractions – is a very serious matter.

"Therefore it has to be a severe punishment for the non-compliance. Not just to set an example, but because the rules were broken."

Tebas hopes establishing City’s guilt will mark a crucial turning point, with implications extending far beyond English football.

"We have to decide whether we strive for sustainable, clean football across all competitions or, as many clubs are now saying, we accept that championships were lost to other clubs when they shouldn’t have been," he stated.

"What’s happened is hugely significant and hopefully marks a turning point, not just for the Premier League but for European football as a whole because the ‘Manchester effect’ was felt right across Europe."

Tebas also wants the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) decision that overturned Uefa's two-year ban on City in 2020 to be re-examined.

Cas reduced a 30million euros fine to 10m euros, clearing City of "disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions" and finding Uefa's allegations "were either not established or time-barred".

"In my opinion, the Cas decisions should be re-examined, specifically when they cleared City, or rather lifted the sanction Uefa had imposed, because those sanctions were lifted in a very questionable manner," Tebas said.

"And now it has been proven that Uefa was right regarding the sanctions against Manchester City."

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Mauricio Pochettino has also commented on Man City's case (PA)

Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino expressed sadness that the Premier League had "lived through a period of deception" if City breached regulations.

The Argentine, in charge at Spurs between 2014 and 2019, Chelsea in 2023-24, and Southampton from 2013 to 2014, said it distorted historical perspective.

Pochettino told the Guardian, through an interpreter: "At the end of the day, we went through something where sporting fairness didn’t exist, so how do you repair everything that was damaged because of that? If it’s true… we’ve lived through a period of deception."

Pochettino added that no penalty could compensate for the damage caused.

"Whatever punishment, it’s impossible to turn back time," he stated. “It’s done a lot of damage. At the end of the day many clubs followed the rules and some didn’t."

Hull owner Acun Ilicali claimed City’s alleged breaches were "no different to doping and winning an Olympic medal".

Speaking on the 1904 Club podcast as the first Premier League owner to speak out, he said: "I don’t say they are guilty or not because they are saying they are innocent, and the Premier League says they are not innocent.

"If they are not innocent, I think it is no different to doping and winning an Olympic medal.

"This is financial doping, at the end of the day. Bringing the top four or five players with huge money, breaking the rules. From that side, it doesn’t look very positive."