Man City fined over £1m for breaking PL rule nine times

Manchester City have been fined over £1m by the Premier League over delayed kick-offs or restarts related to nine of their matches last season.

The league announced on Thursday it had entered into a sanction agreement with the club over breaches of the league’s rules around kick-off and restart times between October and February.

The longest delay was two minutes and 24 seconds before the resumption of the Manchester derby at Old Trafford last December.

The nine games that led to Man City’s fine…

vs Southampton (H) – October 26, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 2 mins and 10 secs
vs Tottenham (H) – November 23, 2024 (Length of delay to kick-off: 1 min and 38 secs)
vs Nottingham Forest (H) – December 4, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 min and 59 secs)
vs Crystal Palace (A) – December 7, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 1 min and 29 secs)
vs Man Utd (H) – December 15, 2024 (Delay to kick-off: 1 min and 18 secs; Delay to restart: 2 mins and 24 secs)
vs Aston Villa (A) – December 21, 2024 (Length of delay to restart: 2 mins and 9 secs)
vs West Ham (H) – January 4, 2025 (Length of delay to restart: 1 min and 42 secs)
vs Ipswich Town (A) – January 19, 2025 (Length of delay to restart: 2 mins and 22 secs)
vs Newcastle (H) – February 15, 2025 (Length of delay to restart: 1 min and 42 secs)

The Premier League said City had accepted and apologised for the breaches of Rule L.33, with the fines totalling £1.08m.

The league said City had 14 days to make payment from the execution of the sanction agreement.

A league statement said: “Rules relating to kick-offs and restarts 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.”

City were fined over £2m last summer for 22 breaches of the kick-off and restart rules during the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.

The issue is unconnected to the 115 charges City are facing for alleged breaches of the competition’s financial regulations, which the club unequivocally denies.