
Manchester City have been fined £1.08 million by the Premier League for repeatedly starting or restarting matches late during the 2024/25 season. The club accepted responsibility for the delays and has 14 days to pay the fine.
The Premier League found that nine of City’s matches were affected by delays, with the most notable incident occurring during the second half of the Manchester derby in December 2024. That match resumed two minutes and 24 seconds later than scheduled, making it the longest delay recorded among the nine.
This is not the first time City has faced disciplinary action for this issue. In the 2023/24 season, the club was fined £2.09 million after delaying 22 matches. At the time, manager Pep Guardiola acknowledged the problem and said he would try to shorten his half-time team talks to avoid further breaches.
In its statement, the Premier League explained that rules around kick-offs and restarts are designed to maintain high professional standards across the competition. The regulations also ensure that matches begin on time, which is especially important for broadcasters and fans around the world.
“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,” the statement read. “It also ensures the broadcast of every Premier League match is kept to schedule.”
In addition to the fines for match delays, Manchester City is still awaiting a decision regarding a much larger issue—115 charges of alleged financial rule breaches. These relate to a period between 2009 and 2018 and were referred to an independent commission in February 2023 following a four-year investigation.
City have strongly denied any wrongdoing and maintain that they have a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” to support their defence.
While the fine for late kick-offs is relatively minor in financial terms for a club of City’s size, it reflects the Premier League’s ongoing efforts to enforce discipline and ensure consistency across the competition.
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