IFR chair says regulator can force Manchester City sale if guilty verdict upheld

David Kogan, chair of the Independent Football Regulator, said on the podcast The Rest Is Football on October 20, 2026 that the IFR would have "absolute power" to force Manchester City’s owner to sell if the club were ultimately found to have been run improperly. His remarks followed an independent commission's guilty finding against Manchester City for circumventing Premier League rules.

The commission concluded Manchester City set up "sham" commercial arrangements to inflate revenues or reduce costs by over £900m across a nine-season period and found the club had made "concerted efforts" to "stop and frustrate" the Premier League’s investigation. Manchester City have lodged an appeal against those charges, saying the verdict "contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe." Kogan said it was premature to discuss any action by the IFR while that appeal is ongoing.

Kogan confirmed the regulator could require a change of ownership if deemed necessary, saying the IFR had "absolute power" to force a sale by the club’s owner, Sheikh Mansour, "if that was felt to be appropriate." He added: "We have the power to ask an owner to step away from a club if we believe that they run a club in a way that is neither fit, fair or done with propriety." In response to a question about whether an owner could refuse to divest, Kogan replied: "No, no, no. We’ve got absolute power to do so."

Addressing the timing of any IFR action, Kogan told the podcast he was unwilling to make judgments while the club's appeal remains unresolved. He said: "I am not going to get pushed into making any judgement on this until we’ve seen all of those questions being answered. Then we will have to decide whether we’re going to mount our own investigation and come to a conclusion on that and what we’re going to do. And pre-empting that would be a colossal mistake." Those remarks set out the regulator’s intent to await the outcome of the appeal and any outstanding inquiries before deciding on a separate probe.

Kogan has also pledged to resign if there is any political interference in any investigation the IFR may undertake into City. That pledge was made amid concerns it could create a diplomatic issue between the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

Manchester City’s appeal is now pending and the IFR says it will determine whether to open its own investigation only after the appeal-related questions have been answered.