Potential Points Deduction Could Impact Defending Champions’ EPL Status
The 2024/25 English Premier League season gets underway today as 20-time league winners Manchester United host Fulham. While the bulk of the action takes place on Saturday, most of the intrigue surrounding the beginning of the EPL season is happening off the field. Player transfers can take place until the August 30 deadline, but the biggest story is the potential of substantial penalties for four-time defending champions Manchester City. There is speculation that the club will face a massive points deduction if found guilty of breaching financial rules.
Depending on the size of a points deduction, Manchester City could face the threat of relegation, by finishing in the bottom three of the Premier League standings. This would result in the most dominant club of the era dropping down to England’s second-tier league, the Championship. One unnamed Premier League executive told The Athletic, “The collective view I’ve heard is that an appropriate sanction would have to be a points deduction so substantial — we are talking here between 70 and 80 points — that it guarantees City a season in the Championship.” It has been suggested the penalty could be a points deduction over a series of seasons, which would help the club stay in the top flight but would make qualifying for the lucrative UEFA Champions League a difficult task. Manchester City begins its season with a tough assignment, heading to west London to face Chelsea on Sunday.
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