---
title: "⚽ Manchester City's 114 Financial Charges All Upheld: How Will the Premier League's Biggest Scandal Ever Be Resolved This Time | AI Sports Weekly"
description: "Manchester City's 114 financial charges all ruled proven, the biggest scandal in Premier League history has officially landed: the championship trophy still hangs on the wall, but the books have been ruled fake. This episode also covers the WNBA's biggest upset in thirty years, with the league's number one seed swept out by the eighth seed, and Caitlin Clark posting a playoff stat line nobody has ever achieved, we'll tell you how she pulled it off in a bit. The Yankees' playoff opener also exploded, one home run left the opponent unable to recover."
canonical_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/sports-weekly/sports-weekly-2026-09-30"
author: "Mark Ku"
author_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku"
site: "Mark Ku's Tech Notes"
date_published: "2026-09-30T02:00:00.000Z"
category: "AI Sports Weekly"
tags: ["sports", "podcast", "運動", "曼城", "WNBA", "CaitlinClark", "洋基", "NBA", "Jokić"]
language: "en"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
attribution: "when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original"
---

# ⚽ Manchester City's 114 Financial Charges All Upheld: How Will the Premier League's Biggest Scandal Ever Be Resolved This Time | AI Sports Weekly

> **TL;DR** — Manchester City faces all 114 financial misconduct charges upheld after using sham contracts and covert funding from owner ADUG to inflate revenue by £830 million between 2009/10 and 2017/18, with sanctions including potential points deductions, transfer bans, or Premier League expulsion to be determined in October. The WNBA's eighth-seeded Liberty swept the top-seeded Lynx 2-0 while coach Cheryl Reeve won her fifth Coach of the Year award on the same day, and Caitlin Clark recorded 27 points with 15 assists in the Fever's 99-89 victory over the Aces, marking the first WNBA playoff game with 25+ points and 15+ assists. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 9-0 in their AL Wild Card opener, with Ben Rice hitting two home runs including a grand slam to drive in six runs.

## Opening

Manchester City has been found guilty on all 114 financial misconduct charges, officially marking the biggest scandal in Premier League history. The championship trophies are still hanging on the wall, but the books have been ruled fake. This episode also covers the WNBA's biggest upset in thirty years, the league's top seed swept out of the playoffs by the eighth seed, and Caitlin Clark putting up a stat line no one has ever achieved in playoff history, we'll tell you how she did it. The Yankees also blew the roof off their postseason opener, with one swing that left their opponents unable to recover.

## This Episode's Top Sports Stories

### 1. Manchester City found guilty on all 114 financial charges
- **What happened**: The Premier League's independent commission ruled that Manchester City is guilty on all 114 counts of financial misconduct, finding that between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons, the club used sham contracts combined with covert funding from majority owner ADUG to inflate revenue by £830 million, on top of fake image rights deals used to pad the salaries of players and then-manager Roberto Mancini. City responded that they were "disappointed and surprised" and must file an appeal by October 2. Sanctions will be determined in a separate hearing, with points deductions, fines, transfer bans, and even expulsion from the Premier League all on the table.
- **Why it matters**: The trophies won during those years are still on display, but the entire dynasty's financial records have now been ruled fraudulent. What penalties follow could become the biggest storyline in Premier League history.
- **Source**: [Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/13290810/man-city-charges-verdict-club-found-guilty-of-all-charges-related-to-serious-breaches-of-premier-league-financial-rules)

### 2. Liberty pull off a sweep upset over the Lynx, coach wins fifth award the same day her team is eliminated
- **What happened**: The New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 87-71 in Game 2, sweeping the league's top regular-season team (33-11) 2-0 to advance to the semifinals. This marks the first time in WNBA history that an eighth seed has eliminated the first seed outright. On the same day, Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve won her fifth career WNBA Coach of the Year award with 40 of 74 votes, becoming the first person in American professional sports history to win Coach of the Year five times. Her teammate Olivia Miles also won Rookie of the Year unanimously, setting a new single-season record of 790 points, surpassing the mark previously held by Caitlin Clark.
- **Why it matters**: The Lynx posted the best record in the entire league, yet went winless in the playoffs and were sent home early. A coach winning an award the same day her team gets eliminated is a contrast too striking to ignore.
- **Source**: [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/50060522/2026-wnba-playoffs-scores-results-takeaways-analysis-fever-aces-liberty-lynx) | [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/lynxs-cheryl-reeve-wins-record-breaking-fifth-wnba-coach-of-the-year-award/)

### 3. Caitlin Clark delivers a historic performance, forcing a Game 3
- **What happened**: The Indiana Fever defeated the Las Vegas Aces 99-89 to stave off elimination and force a Game 3 in the series. Caitlin Clark shot 9-for-18 from the field, including 5-for-11 from three, finishing with 27 points, 15 assists, and 7 rebounds, becoming the first player in WNBA history to record 25 points and 15 assists in a single game. She had already posted 14 points and 11 assists by halftime, also making her the first player in playoff history to record a points-assists double-double before the break. Kelsey Mitchell added 26 points and Aliyah Boston 22, with the trio combining for 75 of the team's 99 points.
- **Why it matters**: Facing elimination, she produced a historic stat line, and it was the team's three stars carrying the entire game together, a story with plenty of drama.
- **Source**: [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/caitlin-clark-historic-performance-fever-aces-game-2-wnba-playoffs/)

### 4. Yankees' Ben Rice hits grand slam to blow out the Red Sox
- **What happened**: In Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series, the Yankees shut out their archrivals the Red Sox 9-0 at home. Ben Rice went 4-for-5, including two home runs (one a grand slam with two outs in the eighth inning), plus a double, driving in 6 runs on the day. Starting pitcher Cam Schlittler threw 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out 10.
- **Why it matters**: Ben Rice single-handedly accounted for every extra-base hit the team had, and his hit total alone exceeded the entire Red Sox lineup's combined hits. That kind of performance in a rivalry playoff game is one for the memory books.
- **Source**: [FOX Sports](https://www.foxsports.com/articles/mlb/schlittler-and-rice-torment-hometown-team-as-yankees-beat-rival-red-sox-90-in-playoff-opener)

### 5. NBA Media Day roster shakeup, Jokić opens up about his contract
- **What happened**: The 2026-27 NBA season's Media Day brought an unusually dramatic wave of roster changes. LeBron James suited up for the 76ers, kicking off his 24th career season, saying he now just wants to do whatever it takes to win. Giannis Antetokounmpo moved to Miami to join the Heat, praising teammate Bam Adebayo as one of the league's most complete two-way players. On the same day, three-time MVP Nikola Jokić of the Nuggets hinted that he'll sign an extension next year as long as the team still wants him. When asked why, he gave a one-word answer: business.
- **Why it matters**: Seeing so many familiar faces change jerseys at once is rare, and that single word, "business," eases some of the anxiety Denver fans have carried through two offseasons. With the new season tipping off on October 20, the hype is already at its peak.
- **Source**: [NBA.com](https://www.nba.com/news/starting-5-september-29-2026) | [NBC Sports](https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/nba-media-day-2026-news-and-notes-nikola-jokic-says-im-gonna-sign-next-year)

## Closing

The most memorable image from this episode is probably that absurd contrast: Manchester City's trophies still on display while their books have been ruled fake. The MLB Wild Card series still has more drama ahead over the next few days, the Liberty are gearing up for the semifinals, and the new NBA season officially tips off on October 20. There's plenty more excitement to come, see you in the next episode.

---

## About this article and its author

Originally published on [Mark Ku's Tech Notes](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/sports-weekly/sports-weekly-2026-09-30)

License: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original

### About the author

**[Mark Ku](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku)** — Software engineer

- 10+ years as a software engineer
- Built North-American e-commerce and AI SaaS subscription billing

### Free tools built by the author

All of these are free to use:

- [Free PDF Sign Tool](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/pdf-sign): Online PDF sign tool — draw, type, or upload a signature, then drag, resize, and download. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
- [VS Code Refactory](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/refactory): Refactory is a VS Code refactoring extension: 34 actions plus a 37-rule code-smell inspection layer with a Code Health dashboard, across 18 languages, backed by 534 tests. It learns your repo's conventions: where interfaces live, where DI is registered, whether 'use client' belongs. It ranks files by git churn × complexity so you know what to fix first, and hands any smell to the Claude Code already on your machine. Free to use, and your source never leaves your computer.
- [DB-Kit Database Manager](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/db-kit): DB-Kit is a lightweight, cross-platform database manager built with Tauri + Rust + React. Manage MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, SQLite, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, Elasticsearch and RabbitMQ from one consistent interface: passwords encrypted in the OS keychain, SSH tunnels, full CRUD, a visual query builder, stacked multi-statement result sets, cross-connection data transfer, schema & data compare with sync SQL and schema snapshots, Excel / CSV import & export, visualized execution plans, ER diagrams, scheduled backups, SQL stress testing with p50–p99 latency percentiles, a 15-rule SQL review engine, Review & Run (AI review plus per-statement backups and an auto-generated rollback script), Kafka message browsing with monitoring & alerts, a bilingual UI (Traditional Chinese / English), a built-in AI assistant (a local CLI or any Anthropic / OpenAI-compatible API; natural-language SQL, AI review and tuning advice) and the dbk CLI. Free and open source (MIT), with installers for Windows, macOS and Linux.
- [VS Code Super Mermaid](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/super-mermaid): Super Mermaid is a VS Code extension for beautiful Mermaid diagrams out of the box: auto-colored live preview, mouse pan & zoom, high-res PNG / SVG export, 21 templates and multiple themes. Free and open source (MIT).
- [React Super Mermaid](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/react-super-mermaid): react-super-mermaid is an open-source React component library: render beautiful Mermaid diagrams with a single <MermaidViewer>, with built-in colorful / sketch themes, pan & zoom, in-diagram search, and high-res SVG / PNG export. Lightweight, SSR-safe, fully typed. Free and open source (MIT).
- [Jira / Confluence Super Mermaid](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/jira-super-mermaid): An Atlassian Forge app: write Mermaid syntax directly inside a Jira issue or a Confluence page and get flowcharts, sequence diagrams, state machines and Gantt charts. 11 diagram types, SVG / PNG export, light and dark themes, full CJK support. Runs on Atlassian: your diagrams live in your own site and the app calls no third-party service. Free, coming soon to the Atlassian Marketplace.
- [Mermaid Live Preview](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/mermaid-preview): Write Mermaid in your browser, see it render instantly, and share the whole diagram as a single link. No sign-up, nothing uploaded to a server, and mermaid.live share links work as-is.
- [React Intl Phone Number](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/react-intl-phone-number): react-intl-phone-number is an open-source React component: framework-agnostic and antd-free, with E.164 in/out, a searchable flag / country-code dropdown, configurable validation levels (strict / mobile-strict / loose), themeable CSS, and i18n — phone logic powered by google-libphonenumber. Lightweight and fully typed. Free and open source (MIT).
- [Uptime Kuma Cluster](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/uptime-kuma-cluster): Turn single-node Uptime Kuma into a highly available cluster: OpenResty + Lua smart load balancing, shared MariaDB state, health checks and automatic failover, plus cluster-management REST APIs. One Docker Compose command to start. Free and open source (MIT).
- [AI Podcast Cut](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/ai-podcast-cut): Drop in a recording and it removes fillers and stutters, levels loudness segment by segment, and sends a second agent to review every cut. Cut points snap to word boundaries and zero crossings, every splice gets a fade, and sentence-end breaths are preserved. Desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. MIT licensed; the Windows installer bundles ffmpeg.
- [open-pos restaurant POS](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/open-pos): One computer and one receipt printer is enough to open the shop. Your data lives on your own disk, no subscription, no lock-in, MIT licensed. Money is integer New Taiwan dollars with tax split by the statutory formula, so sales + tax always equals the total. Printing goes straight over ESC/POS on TCP 9100, with no vendor driver. Tauri + Rust + SQLite desktop app, v1.0 in development.

### Daily podcasts

- [Mark's Tech Insights — Daily AI News](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/tech-news): Daily curated AI and tech trends. Catch the latest developments via audio summaries — covering AI applications, software architecture, DevOps, and engineering practice. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/feed.xml
- [AI股市蝦聊](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/ai-stock-chat): Every trading day, an AI-analyzed take on the Taiwan stock market, delivered as a two-host conversation covering the session and the next-day outlook. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/ai-stock-chat/feed.xml
- [開源好物週報](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/open-source-weekly): A weekly two-host pick of free open-source tools surfaced from real Hacker News, GitHub, and Reddit buzz — what pain they solve and the fastest way to get started. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/open-source-weekly/feed.xml
- [AI 運動週報](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/sports-weekly): Two hosts talk NBA, MLB and world sport three times a week — scores, records and the stories behind them, from a Taiwanese fan perspective. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/sports-weekly/feed.xml
- [AI 國際新聞快報](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/world-news): A daily two-host briefing that makes sense of the past 24 hours in world news — geopolitics, the global economy, conflict and security, disasters and climate — from a Taiwanese perspective, neutral and fully sourced. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/world-news/feed.xml
- [地端 AI 實驗室](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/local-ai-lab): Twice a week, a two-host look at open-weight models and LoRAs you can actually run on your own machine: what they are for, whether your GPU can handle them, and how they compare — sourced from official model cards. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/local-ai-lab/feed.xml

### Deals

- [Saily eSIM](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/saily): Travel eSIM by the NordVPN team，Promo code：KUKU
- [NordVPN](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/nordvpn): The world's leading VPN, independently audited
- [PremLogin](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/premlogin): Subscription sharing for streaming and AI seats，Promo code：markku666

### Newsletter

[Subscribe to the newsletter](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/subscribe) — Be the first to know about new posts. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.