Man City learn the fate of their appeal against their European club competition ban having been sanctioned by UEFA for committing serious breaches.
At 9:30am on Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced the verdict from a three-day appeal hearing that took place back in June after City were found guilty of breaking financial regulations in February and fined 30m euros (£26.9m).
The best outcome for the Premier League side was to be cleared of all charges and their two-year European ban will be overturned, something which Pep Guardiola said he was “so confident” of happening and City have always maintained denying any wrongdoing.
CLUB STATEMENT https://t.co/RlR33Vy2bI
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 13, 2020
It’s since been revealed that the ban has been overturned, which comes as disappointing news to teams looking to get a European place, such as Chelsea, Leicester City, Manchester United, Wolves, Sheffield United, Tottenham, Arsenal and Burnley.
Manchester City said in a statement: “Whilst Manchester City and its legal advisors are yet to review the full ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Club welcomes the implications of today’s ruling as a validation of the Club’s position and the body of evidence that it was able to present. The Club wishes to thank the panel members for their diligence and the due process that they administered.”
So, it means that teams finishing in the top 4 of the Premier League this season will qualify for the Champions League. Those in 5th and 6th will go into the Europa League, 7th will also if Arsenal don’t win the FA Cup.
Analysis from Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol: “Manchester City will find out at 9.30am on Monday morning if they can play in the Champions League for the next two seasons. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce its decision after City appealed against a two-year ban imposed by Uefa for “serious breaches” of its financial fair play rules (FFP).
“If City’s ban is confirmed, the team who finish fifth in the Premier League – currently Manchester United – will take their place in the Champions League next season.
“Whatever happens City will still be able to carry on playing in this season’s competition when it restarts next month. The competition was suspended in March with City well-placed to reach the quarter finals after winning 2-1 at Real Madrid in a first leg Round of 16 tie.
“This is the first time UEFA has banned a club from the Champions League for two seasons and CAS has the power to overturn the ban or to reduce it to one season.
“Pep Guardiola said last week he was confident the ban would be overturned and repeated his stance in Friday’s press conference. He has already said he will remain as the club’s manager next season even if they are not allowed to play in Europe.
“Missing out on European football would result in a loss of revenue of about £100m a season. Additionally, transfer targets may be reluctant to join a club who are not in Europe and questions would be asked about the futures of some of City’s most valuable players.
“In February, UEFA banned City from Europe for the next two seasons and fined them €30m for “serious breaches” of the FFP rules and for failing to co-operate with the investigation.
“In an interview with City’s in-house media team, chief executive Ferran Soriano said he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the decision.
“City were found to have overstated sponsorship revenue and break-even information in accounts submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.
“City’s appeal was heard over three days from 8 June to 10 June via video conference by a panel of three arbitrators – Rui Botica Santos, Ulrich Haas and Andrew McDougall QC.
“City hired a high-profile group of lawyers to represent them at the CAS hearing. Their legal team was led by David Pannick QC of Blackstone Chambers and Paul Harris QC of Monckton Chambers.
“Lord Pannick successfully represented Gina Miller against the government in September when the Supreme Court decided the Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted illegally by suspending Parliament.
“UEFA’s lawyers included Dr Jan Kleiner, a partner at Bär & Karrer and co-head of the Swiss firm’s sport practice group, and Mark Phillips QC of South Square Chambers.
“UEFA opened an investigation into City following the publication of documents on the Football Leaks website and Der Spiegel in November 2018. The German magazine said City’s owners had tried to get round FFP rules by putting money into the club disguised as sponsorship income. One document appeared to show that Etihad Airways was paying only £8m of a £67m sponsorship agreement.
“In November last year, CAS rejected an attempt by City to have the case dismissed and the ban overturned on procedural grounds.
“FFP was introduced by UEFA in 2009 to prevent clubs falling into serious financial difficulties by overspending. Clubs are required to operate within their means and meet break-even targets, while dealings have to be transparent.
“City have been Champions League for nine seasons in a row since they qualified for the competition for the first time in 2011/12. They had previously played in the European Cup in 1968.
“City were fined £49m by UEFA in 2014 for breaking FFP rules. £32m of the fine was suspended.
“The Premier League said in March last year it was investigating to see if City had broken any of their financial regulations.”
“There has to be question marks about FFP”@SkyKaveh questions whether the rules need to be looked at after Man City’s UEFA ban was overturned
Full story: https://t.co/lWlzIyXjVP pic.twitter.com/a43loiRNSt
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 13, 2020
CAS verdict read:
“The CAS award emphasised that most of the alleged breaches reported by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) were either not established or time-barred.
“As the charges with respect to any dishonest concealment of equity funding were clearly more significant violations than obstructing the CFCB’s investigations, it was not appropriate to impose a ban on participating in UEFA’s club competitions for MCFC’s failure to cooperate with the CFCB’s investigations alone.
“However, considering i) the financial resources of MCFC; ii) the importance of the cooperation of clubs in investigations conducted by the CFCB, because of its limited investigative means; and iii) MCFC’s disregard of such principle and its obstruction of the investigations, the CAS panel found that a significant fine should be imposed on MCFC and considered it appropriate to reduce UEFA’s initial fine by two-thirds, i.e. to the amount of EUR 10 million.”
After finding out that Man City learn their fate of an appeal against their two year European ban, fans gave their reaction…
WE WON !!!!! pic.twitter.com/P1WOdRjEKc
— ⚡️?? (@Priceless_Silva) July 13, 2020
Absolutely ridiculous
— ♦️™️ (@Prime_Utd) July 13, 2020
Rich clubs will now get away with anything. Congratulations the super rich.
— The Football Pundit (@thefp_uk) July 13, 2020
Cancel ffp. Clearly doesnt stand up in court and therefore useless
— Jason Grimmitt (@JasonGrimmitt) July 13, 2020
Cheating. Anyone can just break FFP and pay a small fine. Bullshit
— Tom (@CFCTOM_4) July 13, 2020
Cheating. Anyone can just break FFP and pay a small fine. Bullshit
— Tom (@CFCTOM_4) July 13, 2020
Football is dead. Money won again. Surprise?
— velislav ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@lustig__) July 13, 2020
“I’m really surprised by that” said literally no football fan anywhere in the known universe
— Nick Moseley (@NMoseley_Writer) July 13, 2020
With the economic uncertainty ahead, they need Man City in the competition
— Shihab Rahman ??? (@S777HAB) July 13, 2020
Fantastic news for city, awful for football. You’d think they would have relooked FFP when PSG spent €380m on two players a couple years ago
Now the precedent has been set by Man City that clubs can spend and inflate contracts at will.
— J.M (@JordanMMcl) July 13, 2020
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