Manchester City have been fined over £1million by the Premier League after falling foul of one of its rules on nine occasions last season. The club have been slapped with sanctions totalling £1.08million for breaching Premier League rule L.33, which comes on the heels of a hefty £2.09m fine from the previous campaign.
Pep Guardiola’s outfit have accepted the punishment and apologised for their infringements, subsequently confirming that they’ve given their squad and backroom staff a refresher on adhering to the regulations concerning kick-off and re-start duties for the second year running.
Rule L. 33 states, in part: “Any club which, without good reason, causes to be delayed either the kick-off of a league match from the time fixed or the re-start after the half-time interval shall be dealt with.”
The Premier League has issued a statement recognising that “rules relating to kick-offs and re-starts help ensure the organisation of the competition is set at the highest possible professional standard and provides certainty to fans and participating clubs. It also ensures the broadcast of every Premier League match is kept to schedule.”
In light of this, the league and Manchester City have reached a “entered into a sanction agreement”. They note that “the breaches occurred in nine Premier League matches during the 2024/25 season”.
In total, the disruptions caused by City led to an 18-minute and 53-second delay across the nine games in question. Here’s the detailed rundown for each individual match…
- A £40,000 fine for their 2-minute 10-second delay of a re-start during their 1-0 win at home to Southampton on 26 October.
- A £60,000 fine for their 1-minute 38-second delay to the kick-off of their 4-0 loss at home to Tottenham Hotspur on 23 November.
- An £80,000 fine for their 1-minute 59-second delay of a re-start during their 3-0 win at home to Nottingham Forest on 4 December.
- A £100,000 fine for their 1-minute and 29-second delay of a re-start during their 2-2 draw away to Crystal Palace on 7 December.
- A £125,000 fine for their 1-minute 18-second delay to kick-off and 2-minute 24-second delay of a re-start during their 2-1 loss at home to Manchester United on 15 December.
- Another £125,000 fine for the 2-minute 9-second delay of a re-start during their 2-1 loss away to Aston Villa on 21 December.
- A £150,000 fine for their 2-minute 22-second delay of a re-start during their 4-1 win at home to West Ham United on 4 January.
- A £210,000 fine for their 2-minute 22-second delay of a re-start during their 6-0 win away to Ipswich Town on 19 January.
- A £190,000 fine for their 1-minute 42-second delay of a re-start during their 4-0 win at home to Newcastle United on 15 February.