Football essentials, 29 September: Manchester City found guilty, Zidane’s France win in Belgium

Manchester City have been found guilty on all 115 charges of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18, the league confirmed on Tuesday. While the verdict came out of London, Zinedine Zidane’s France won in Belgium and European club football held its congress in Copenhagen.

Manchester City guilty on all 115 charges

The Premier League confirmed on Tuesday that an independent commission found Manchester City guilty on all 115 charges of financial rule breaches between 2009-10 and 2017-18. The Guardian reports that contracts described as “sham” inflated the club’s revenues by £900m over nine seasons. The club still protests its innocence: chief executive Ferran Soriano refused to answer questions in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The commission will now discuss sanctions, from points deductions to stripped titles. The verdict has also revived an ex-referee’s suspicions about the 2012 title match, which Djibril Cissé angrily dismissed on Monday.

Zidane’s France win in Belgium with nine changes

Zinedine Zidane changed nine of the eleven who won in Türkiye, and France still won 1-0, Michael Olise scoring in the 88th minute. Désiré Doué was the man of the match: starting in a heavily reshaped side, the PSG forward hit the crossbar of goalkeeper Senne Lammens and kept creating in front of the Belgian defence. Mark van Bommel’s Belgium, beaten late, were left with their frustration. Two wins from two for the new France coach, who hosts Italy on Friday; the France-Italy preview is already online.

Ceferin calls for the “emperor” to fall

From the podium of the EFC congress in Copenhagen, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin took aim at Gianni Infantino without naming him: “The emperor is naked”, “it is time to say: enough”. Earlier in the day, FIFA had accused UEFA of a “misinformation campaign” in a Florida court filing, while Gianni Infantino opened the way on Monday to redistributing FIFA’s reserves, the other front of the dispute, which our piece covers. The same congress heard Nasser al-Khelaïfi ask Aleksander Čeferin to run again in 2027 and announce the creation of a World Football Clubs body, and elected Lille’s Olivier Létang to the EFC board ahead of Marseille’s Stéphane Richard, filling Pablo Longoria’s seat.

Ethan Mbappé carried off with France U21

On his first start for France U21, Ethan Mbappé lasted twelve minutes in Estonia: the Lille midfielder took a blow to an ankle while trying to cross and was carried off. Coach Gérald Baticle had made seven changes for the Euro U21 qualifier. A grim week for the LOSC player: UEFA suspended him for three Champions League matches for the elbow on Natan against Betis, ruling him out of the games with Arsenal and Galatasaray.

AFCON qualifying: Algeria held, Morocco and Senegal win

Two goals down after twelve minutes in Burundi, Algeria came back to 2-2, a draw that stings Brahim Hemdani’s side. Himad Abdelli limped off just before half-time with a left ankle injury, joining the Marseille players hurt during the break; our report has the details. Morocco had a quieter evening: 2-0 in Lesotho through Brahim Díaz and Azzedine Ounahi, after beating Gabon by the same score on Friday. Senegal collected a first win under Patrick Vieira, 1-0 in Ethiopia, after the opening draw with Mozambique.

Mbappé avoids surgery, to Real Madrid’s relief

Kylian Mbappé, forced off against Türkiye, is not expected to need surgery. Real Madrid welcomed the diagnosis and praised the France medical staff for not rushing the striker back. Our report covers the relief in Madrid.

Giroud: “very probably my last season”

Olivier Giroud turns 40 on Wednesday, and the Lille striker told L’Équipe: “It is very probably my last season.” He gave a second interview to Canal+ the same day, pointing the same way. Our report has his words.