What does Man City CAS ban decision mean for Uefa and Financial Fair Play?

When Manchester City were handed a two-season Champions League ban for alleged "serious breaches" of Financial Fair Play in February, many key figures in European football were pleased at Uefa's strong stance.

But just like Paris Saint-Germain before them, the 2018 and 2019 Premier League winners have escaped severe punishment on appeal and are now free to play in the Champions League in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The final decision was made, in each case, by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In their statement, CAS said: "Manchester City FC did not disguise equity funding as sponsorship contributions but did fail to cooperate with the Uefa authorities.

"CAS decision: exclusion from participation in Uefa club competitions lifted; fine maintained but reduced to €10million (from €30m)."

For one of the world's wealthiest clubs, backed by an oil-rich state (United Arab Emirates), the €10m (£9m) fine is a drop in the ocean. A slap on the wrist.

And for Uefa, the verdict is a huge blow. European football's governing body sought to make an example of City. Instead, it is Uefa and CAS under the spotlight following this decision.

"Uefa notes that the CAS panel found that there was insufficient conclusive evidence to uphold all of the Club Financial Control Body's (CFCB) conclusions in this specific case and that many of the alleged breaches were time-barred due to the 5 year time period foreseen in the Uefa regulations," the organisation said it is own statement.

The expression "time-barred" is key here. City essentially got off on a technicality, after the club were accused of "overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts" and in information given to Uefa between 2012 and 2016.

Most of that period is already over five years ago and even though Uefa acted after the investigation by Der Spiegel, there are question marks over why it took a special report from a German newspaper to unearth the information on City's spending in the first place.

"Hard to see how Uefa's FFP rules can survive this," Gary Lineker wrote on Twitter after the decision was announced. "In fact, can Uefa survive the ramifications?"

Financial Fair Play was introduced at the beginning of the 2011-12 season in order to prevent professional football clubs from spending more than they earn in the pursuit of success.

Punishment ranges from fines to European bans, but City, PSG, AC Milan and Galatasaray have all beaten Uefa in appeals over the last two years to escape the toughest sanctions.

PSG avoided a Champions League ban despite spending €400m on Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in the same summer (in 2017). The two forwards remain the most-expensive players in football history.

In City's case, the allegations precede current coach Pep Guardiola and much of the playing squad at the Etihad, but their failure to cooperate with Uefa raises suspicion and LaLiga president Javier Tebas, was critical of the decision on Monday.

“We have to reassess whether CAS is the appropriate body to which to appeal institutional decisions in football," he said a statement to the international media. "Switzerland is a country with a great history of arbitration, CAS is not up to standard.”

The regulations remain necessary: without them, clubs like City and PSG could blow everyone else out of the water with exorbitant transfer fees and wages. FFP stops that, to an extent at least, but clubs are still getting off lightly with breaches of the rules and a fine such as the €10m handed to City is hardly a deterrent.

And while Tebas' criticism of CAS may be valid, legal loopholes mean clubs can often find a way to limit the damage and walk away with only a small sanction.

Ironically, this could be the season in which either City or PSG put aside years of underachievement in Europe and finally go on to claim a maiden Champions League trophy.

Such an outcome would likely represent further embarrassment for Uefa, yet it is their failure to properly enforce FFP and crack down on "financial doping" which has allowed state-sponsored clubs to flout the rules and continue competing in the Champions League.

An internal investigation is surely now needed at Uefa. And even though "RIP FFP" was trending on Monday, there can and should be a future for Financial Fair Play. It just needs to be better.

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