Many Premier League clubs thought to want a relegation if City found guilty
Rules of domestic and international tournaments cast doubt on future there too
The hearing into the club’s 115 alleged financial rule breaches began on Monday
By Sam Lawley
Published: | Updated:
Manchester City reportedly face being ‘expelled from all competitions’, not just the Premier League, if they are found guilty of breaking financial rules.
The hearing into Manchester City’s 115 alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules began on Monday with the club accused of financial impropriety spanning nine years from 2009.
The League charged City with a failure to provide accurate financial information and a failure to provide accurate details for player and manager payments.
An investigation was sparked by Der Spiegel publishing Football Leaks documents in 2018 and City stand accused of funnelling money from the club’s owners through sponsors in the United Arab Emirates.
Many thought the sternest punishment lying in wait would be relegation, with points deductions and fines also potential penalties, but it has now been claimed, as per The Telegraph, that they could be kicked out of every tournament they compete in.
Manchester City reportedly face being ‘expelled from all competitions’, not just the Premier League , if they are found guilty of breaking financial rules
Clause 31 of FA Cup rules states: ‘Where a club has been admitted to participate in the competition but is then removed from the league in which it competes (or its league fixtures are suspended), the Professional Game Board may remove the club from the competition’
To make matters worse their involvement in the Champions League, should they be found guilty of rule breaches, seems far from assured
It has previously been reported that most Premier League sides would not accept a one-off points deduction if City were found guilty, with many demanding an eviction from the division.
Now a look into the rules of English football’s two domestic tournaments has shown that their future participation in these competitions could be in doubt.
Clause 31 of the FA Cup rules states: ‘Where a club has been admitted to participate in the competition but is then removed from the league in which it competes (or its league fixtures are suspended), the Professional Game Board [PGB] may remove the club from the competition.’
The PGB consists of representatives from the Premier League and English Football League.
EFL Cup rules similarly define participating clubs as ‘each member from time to time of the league and each member from time to time of the Premier League’.
To make matters worse their involvement in the Champions League, should they be found guilty of rule breaches, seems far from assured – although the competition’s rules are slightly more complicated.
Sides need a Uefa club licence in order to take part in the tournament and the Premier League, Uefa, and the FA all have a voice in the administration of these licences.
As for Fifa’s expanded Club World Cup, starting this summer, regulations do not seem to be publicly available – but involvement in either that competition or the Champions League would be tricky if they were kicked out of domestic football entirely.
EFL Cup rules similarly define participating clubs as ‘each member from time to time of the league and each member from time to time of the Premier League’
As for Fifa’s expanded Club World Cup, starting this summer, regulations do not seem to be publicly available
City have won all five trophies at various stages over a successful few years at the Etihad
City deny wrongdoing and are defending their case at an independent inquiry.
City won the Premier League three times between 2009 and 2018, lifting the top division title in 2012, 2014 and 2018.
They are on a four-season league-winning streak, while they are also looking to regain the Champions League after winning it in the 2022-23 season.
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Man City ‘could be expelled from the Champions League, Club World Cup, FA Cup AND Carabao Cup’ if they are found guilty of breaking financial rules in football’s ‘trial of the century’
That’s the first question you should ask yourself if you’re a parent of a teenager who plays for a club or travel sports team and your kid wants to play that sport in college.
You’re likely paying thousands of dollars per year. Maybe even $10,000. Or, in this case, more than $20,000 for a 13-year-old.
Our club and travel sports system in America is broken in many ways. A number of parents and coaches with whom I have interacted refer to scene as a racket.
But we can select the club and travel programs that work for us, find the coaches who care about our kids and stay away from the sheer moneymakers.
“Paying for club soccer for the purpose of helping pay for college is a horrendous investment,” Joel Rutherford, a youth referee for the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for three decades and a high school ref for 17 years, tells USA TODAY Sports. He’s also a parent of former club, recreational and high school players.
“Chances for a college scholarship are minuscule,” he says. “If a parent is trying to help pay for college, you’d be far better off taking the money for club soccer and setting it aside in a college fund, or pay far less for a few ACT or SAT prep classes or private tutoring to raise grades.”
But these teams aren’t the only artery for college recruitment. You need to know what you’re getting into, but also that there are a number of ways to catch the eye of college coaches.
Here’s a checklist of what to look for in a club or travel program for a kid with college athletics aspirations:
1. Will you get enough playing time? At this point, your primary goal is not to win tournaments but to be seen.
If you are in high school, you have reached the showcase level. The top clubs will market that goal. Don’t play for one that doesn’t play you at least relatively equally to your teammates.
Don’t get lured to the “top” team in your area or region without an assurance, and follow through, from the coach of playing time. And be skeptical if your son or daughter is put with a group of players of equal or lesser ability at a tryout but the coach tells them they will have a chance to move up to the top team within the organization. This might be a money grab.
2. You need to play in front of college coaches. But is your coach well-connected?
Finding out which colleges will be at your showcases is a good indicator you will be playing against top competition.
However, college coaches often come to these events to see specific players and can miss you if you aren’t on their radar. Choose a team whose coach knows or has direct pathways to college coaches and will tell them to watch you, too.
You are paying for these connections on a club team. If you’re not getting them, you might be better off playing on a less expensive team and investing in a well-connected personal coach.
3. Is your coach narrow-minded? Don’t play for one who says club is the only way to make it.
James Tysz is the father of a U14 soccer player for an Elite Club National League (ECNL) team based in Williamsburg, Virginia. The ECNL is one of many feeders from soccer’s club circuit to colleges, along with MLS Next, which pulls out top players in states and regions across the country.
Tysz estimates he plays at least $6,000 per year in club fees, uniform and equipment costs and travel, which includes hotels, gas, food and airfare.
“Club is almost the only way to play at college level,” Tysz tells USA TODAY Sports. “High school soccer is a mix of rec level up to club level players and scouts don’t have time or interest for that lottery. The U.S. is a pay to play system and is broken, but it’s all we got.”
It’s not uncommon for soccer parents to pay thousands more per year than he does. Check out the amounts listed the comments section of this video of how to fix youth soccer. You see higher prices but also more reasonable ones. (It’s worth a view):
Volleyball, hockey, lacrosse (and sometimes baseball) have similarly exorbitant fees. The club system pushes out players who can’t afford it, and it pushes out good players.
A former coach, who told me he has worked with the Italian national teams and now lives in the states, says a club coach who claims club soccer is the only way is narrow-minded and is just looking for profits.
Play for a coach, instead, who is committed to using all avenues (not just his or her team) to get you to that level.
The most important scouting aspect of soccer, the former Italian coach tells me, is how well you play in a system. Can you play with flash, make that incisive pass or create shots by pulling defenders away? A coach that can identify your child’s best role on any team is a keeper.
Coach Steve: Rutgers coach, DI daughters offer tips to keep competitive sports fun
4. Is your kid doing legwork on his or her own? Don’t pay for a team because you think it guarantees college placement.
No club coach can promise you a spot on a college team. There is heavy turnover in college coaching and a transfer portal that allows coaches to pull in existing collegiate athletes on top of high school recruits.
Your kid will need to promote himself or herself to coaches in addition to playing on a team. Get a social media handle on X or Instagram or elsewhere and post clips or highlights that showcase your skills. List relevant metrics you have reached within your sport.
Post videos that exhibit a number of skills – not just goals, baskets touchdowns or strikeouts but clips that show your speed, strength and versatility. Coaches love intangibles such as getting a good lead off first base and making it to third on a single or diving for a loose ball and calling a timeout. Find something that makes you stand out from the others.
Email coaches with a short introduction, followed by your specific interest in their school and one or two short clips.
You may not hear back, but coaches could give you a follow on social media. You never know. A couple years ago, forward Steve Settle told me Howard men’s basketball coach Kenny Blakeney gave him an offer after watching his 15-secon clip.
5. Have you considered your region of the country before shelling out?
College coaches with limited budgets pinpoint areas with lots of talented players. A longtime high school varsity lacrosse coach in Atlanta told me you probably need to play club to be seen if you live in non-traditional areas for his sport like Kansas, Idaho or Montana.
Do your research. If you live in hotbed for your sport – such as population dense areas of Texas, Arizona, Florida, California or Virginia for baseball; Texas and Georgia for football; or cities like Memphis, Baltimore, Chicago, New York or Washington, D.C., for basketball – you may not need to play club, or at least on a top-tier club.
You can attend showcases coaches hold on college campuses for a fraction of what it costs to play for a travel team. Ask your high school coach to call the college coach before you attend their showcase and get feedback on your from the college coaches at the showcase on your next steps.
6. Is your time and money investment taking away from improving your grades?
Only about 2% of high school athletes are given athletics scholarships to play in college, according to the NCAA. The percentage of high school athletes who play in college athletics varies from about 3 to 14 percent, depending on the sport.
Balance your time and investment with improving your grades and test scores, which play a large part in your recruitment and can get you scholarship money.
Getting into the school may be a prerequisite for getting on the team. Having better grades can not only separate you from other candidates, but get you scholarship money. And don’t be Division 1 or bust. If you play Division II, Division III or in junior college, you will have an opportunity to transfer if you are good enough.
7. Is your coach flexible with you and your schedule?
Your coach should understand if you need to skip a game or a tournament (with enough advance notice from you) to go to showcase on a college campus or study for exams or standardized tests.
His or her goal is to help place you in a college program, which helps the club team’s reputation.
Have an up-front conversation about your college strategy with the coach before you join the organization and if, once you join it, you don’t feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.
8. Do you know your skills and metrics? They give you negotiating power and a sense of reality.
Find out the key tools and metrics for your sport that will get you recruited regardless of your club team. If it’s baseball, it means you throw in the mid-80s or higher as a pitcher (and are accurate and vary your speeds with other pitches) and hit with a exit velocity well above 90.
If you play volleyball, it’s whether you can touch 10 feet or higher as a girl and 11 to 12 feet as a boy.
If you are football player, can you run a mid-4s 40-yard dash despite weighing over 200 pounds?
Evan Gerish, an assistant track and field coach at the University of Dubuque in Iowa, says these numbers would make coaches pay attention:
Gerish suggests you check out whomever finished eighth and above at the most recent conference championships of schools in which you are interested and compare yours. You can check on player metrics for other schools and sports, too.
“Recruiting standards vary across divisions and conferences, but there is a lot of overlap,” Gerish tells USA TODAY Sports. “A school like mine, blue blood D3 powerhouse, is recruiting the same athletes as a mid-level D1 team.”
9. Have you weighed the amount of travel and events against the investment in getting better?
Pick an organization that mixes games and skill development to hit those metrics and improve the skills that will get you noticed.
If a team has excessive travel, ask yourself if it is getting in the way of making you better. Showcases show off your ability but you improve through conditioning and practicing, too.
A private coach, even in just a few sessions, can get you on a skills and strength development plan that you can mix with your game play.
Use the early years of high school to get in the best possible shape to showcase yourself. If you are a freshman, maybe it means taking a season off from your main sport to play a different one that makes you stronger or faster.
Also from USA TODAY: Homophobic speech in youth sports doesn’t just harm gay boys. It harms straight boys too.
10. Are you all in for the journey?
This past summer, I traveled to Atlanta for a showcase baseball tournament with my rising junior. His brother, 14, came along. We shared laughs at YouTube clips, and more serious discussions, along a 10-plus hour drive.
We spent valuable time together watching movies in the hotel rooms, sharing meals and watching a Braves game.
If you are a travel athlete and parent, you need to embrace the ride. Along the way, your athlete might discover playing a sport in college is too time consuming. But in the process, he or she might discover the school they truly love outside of sports.
Maybe all of you will discover more about yourselves.
“Consider the time,” says Rutherford, the three-decade referee and soccer dad I mentioned earlier. “What else could the evenings and weekends be used for? Maybe it’s riding bikes, playing basketball in the driveway, family meals, attending church, having a nap, letting non-sports kids have time to do their thing and more.”
“Kids drop out of sports by the time they become teens. Usually it’s because it’s not fun. Parents and coaches are too intense. There’s yelling at the players and officials. Sometimes the more you spend, the more pressure there is on everyone to get ‘results.’ “
Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.
Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@usatoday.com
Chelsea have appointed a former media professional as their women’s team new chief executive officer in a bizarre move by the club, according to reports.
The Blues are the reigning Women’s Super League champions after winning the English top-flight title for a record-breaking seventh time under Emma Hayes last season.
Hayes later made the decision to leave Chelsea in favour of becoming the next United States women head coach in a move that sparked several changes at Stamford Bridge.
The women’s team is now running entirely separate to Chelsea’s men’s squad and have taken the decision to appoint former Athletic general manager Aki Mandhar into the top director role, as reported by the Guardian.
Mandhar doesn’t boast any football management experience, but has been tasked with delivering success both on and off the field for the Blues women’s team moving forward.
Chelsea have appointed Aki Mandhar (pictured) as the new women’s team chief executive
Chelsea are about to embark on their Women’s Super League campaign as reigning champions
She previously fulfilled the role of chief operating officer at the Daily Telegraph having initially embarked on a career in public relations.
Chelsea is a new project for Mandhar and will reportedly be tasked with improving matchday attendances after the club struggled to fill out seats at Stamford Bridge last season.
The Blues struggled while Arsenal in contrast generated huge home crowds when they moved to playing WSL and Champions League matches at the Emirates.
Mandhar is expected to be tasked with improving attendances for women’s games at Stamford Bridge
Meanwhile, Mandhar’s arrival comes at a time when there is disparity between investors at the top of the club amidst a souring in the relationship between co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
50-year-old Boehly has been the face of Chelsea that was formerly represented by ex-owner Roman Abramovich, who oversaw the club’s greatest period of success prior to being forced to sell after the UK Government imposed restrictions amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Now there are suggestions that Boehly and Eghbali both want to buy each other’s shares to gain a greater controlling portion. Mail Sport previously revealed that Clearlake Capital have no intention of selling their stake.
Clearlake own a 61.5 per cent majority in Chelsea, but all key decisions are made as a collective process between a group of four main investors.
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Chelsea appoint new CEO for their women’s team with ‘no experience of running a football club’ in surprise move amid ownership tension at Stamford Bridge
Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and added two assists to guide Barcelona to a 7-0 rout of Real Valladolid in La Liga on Saturday.
Hansi Flick’s side will go into the international break top of the table with a perfect 12 points from four games, seven clear of bitter rivals Real Madrid, who have a game in hand. Facing a side who gave Madrid a tough game last weekend, Barça were ruthless as they took their goal tally to 13 from four matches.
Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski gave the hosts a two-goal lead with goals on the break four minutes apart, controlling long balls by Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal before tidy finishes past Valladolid goalkeeper Karl Hein. Jules Koundé extended the lead, striking from a corner in added time before the break.
After Lewandowski hit the post early in the second half, Raphinha scored twice from close range to extend Barca’s lead to five, with Lewandowski and Yamal providing the assists. The Brazil winger continued his masterclass with an assist to new signing Dani Olmo, who scored in the 82nd minute on his first start for Barça.
Olmo had already hit the post twice and missed a close-range sitter as Barcelona produced 23 efforts on goal to Valladolid’s five. Substitute Ferran Torres completed the drubbing in the 85th minute from another assist by Raphinha.
Ángel Correa celebrates with the Atlético Madrid bench after his late winner in Bilbao. Photograph: Ander Gillenea/AFP/Getty Images
Atlético Madrid are second, four points behind Barça, after Ángel Correa’s strike from a counterattack in stoppage time gave them a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Athletic Bilbao later on Saturday.
In an entertaining game in which both teams struggled to find a cutting edge, the visitors finally broke the deadlock two minutes into added time. Alexander Sorløth stole the ball from defender Iñigo Lekue on the halfway line and set up substitute Correa who rounded the goalkeeper before tapping into the empty net.
Villarreal go into the international break in third place after earning a 1-1 draw at Valencia, who stay bottom of the table despite picking up their first point of the season. Hugo Doro’s opener for the hosts was cancelled out by Ayozé Pérez just before the break, and the visitors held on after Pape Gueyé’s second-half dismissal.
In Serie A, Napoli’s Romelu Lukaku and André Zambo Anguissa scored in stoppage time to earn a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over promoted Parma. The feisty visitors, who beat Milan 2-1 at home last week, looked to be on their way to another surprise win thanks to a 19th-minute penalty from Ange-Yoan Bonny.
Another frustrating night for Antonio Conte changed direction when the Parma keeper Zion Suzuki was shown a second yellow card for a foul on David Neres. With no substitutes available, defender Enrico Del Prato had to take over in goal.
Parma still held on until the second minute of stoppage time, when new signing Lukaku equalised with a low shot from 12 yards out. Four minutes later, Zambo Anguissa’s header sealed the win in front of an ecstatic home crowd.
André Zambo Anguissa celebrates his last-gasp winner with Napoli teammate Romelu Lukaku. Photograph: Image Photo Agency/Getty Images
Milan are still without a win after three games, but Rafael Leão’s powerful finish at least earned the Rossoneri a point away to Lazio. Strahinja Pavlovic headed the visitors in front after clearing Boulaye Dia’s shot off the line at the other end, but Lazio hit back through Taty Castellanos and then led through Dia’s close-range finish before Leão rescued a draw in the 72nd minute.
Marseille sit top of Ligue 1 after Mason Greenwood’s first-half double set up a 3-1 victory in Toulouse. Greenwood was set up twice by Luis Henrique in the space of 60 seconds, before Frank Magri was sent off for the hosts. Henrique’s shot then deflected in off the unfortunate Charlie Cresswell to make it 3-0, and Greenwood missed a chance of a hat-trick before Shavy Babicka pulled one back for Les Violets.
Nantes sit in second place after Mostafa Mohamed’s late goal capped a 3-1 victory at Montpellier. Brest picked up their first points of the season in style, routing Saint-Étienne 4-0 at home to leave the promoted side bottom of the table.
