Manchester City has been fined over 1 million euros by the Premier League for a remarkable reason. The club has been late for kickoff nine times this past season.
The Premier League tracks whether teams arrive on time for kickoff in both the first and second half of every match. The league leadership states that this is done to prevent the broadcast schedule around each match from running unnecessarily long.
Manchester City was late in 9 of the 38 matches, according to a Premier League report. The report details how much delay each match experienced due to Manchester City’s actions. The longest delay was 2 minutes and 22 seconds.
For the first violation, in October of last year against Southampton, Manchester City already received a fine of 40,000 pounds (about 47,000 euros). With each subsequent violation, the fine increased significantly. The highest fine for being late is 210,000 pounds.
Manchester City has accepted the fine and promised to improve. The club is currently awaiting the Premier League’s judgment in a protracted case regarding the rules around Financial Fair Play.
City is said to have violated those rules no fewer than 115 times from 2009 to 2023. The club’s management has always denied this. It has not been announced when the Premier League will rule in the case.