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Manchester City’s 2012 title: Djibril Cissé hits back at corruption claims
Found guilty of 114 financial breaches, Manchester City faces renewed accusations of corruption over its 2012 title. Djibril Cissé, who scored for QPR that day, has hit back.
by Lucas Morel · 2 min read
On 13 May 2012, Djibril Cissé equalised for QPR against Manchester City on the final day of the Premier League season. Trailing 2-1 in stoppage time, Roberto Mancini’s side turned the game around in two minutes: Edin Dzeko in the 92nd minute, Sergio Agüero in the 94th. City were champions.
Fourteen years on, that finale is back in the firing line. On 25 September, The Athletic revealed that Manchester City had been found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules between 2009 and 2018. On X, an anonymous account claims QPR’s players were paid by an Abu Dhabi company to let City win, and referee Mike Dean’s testimony from 2025, given on The Overlap Fan Debate, is doing the rounds again: he could not understand why QPR handed the ball straight back after the equaliser.
Cissé wants a proper debate
The former striker, 41 caps and nine goals for France, was on the pitch that day. His reply came fast on X: “I am not going to let you talk such rubbish. Let’s organise a proper meeting to discuss it.” According to Foot Mercato, he also defended the referee’s integrity and called on people not to turn contested decisions into corruption accusations without concrete evidence. The claim against QPR rests on nothing: the verdict of 25 September concerns the club’s accounting, not that match.
City promise a long fight
In Copenhagen, addressing Europe’s clubs at the ECA assembly, chief executive Ferran Soriano promised to contest the charges: “It took eight years to get here and it will take a lot more time.” Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak wrote to supporters that the process is “still far from over”. According to The Times, the Premier League will set out its recommended sanctions before an independent commission at a hearing in the coming weeks. Possible punishments range from fines to points deductions, with the risk of relegation or even expulsion from the league.
On the pitch, City sit top of the Premier League heading into the international break. They travel to Liverpool on 11 October.