Yahoo News Man City Champions League ban: Uefa respond after CAS overturn suspension
Uefa have responded after Manchester City’s Champions League suspension was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
European football’s governing body had banned City from European competition for two years for what they alleged were significant breaches of their Financial Fair Play regulations.
City appealed their case and on Monday CAS found in their favour overturning the suspension and reducing the fine to €10million.
“Uefa takes note of the decision taken by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reduce the sanction imposed on Manchester City FC by Uefa’s independent Club Financial Control Body for alleged breaches of the Uefa Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations,” they said in a statement.
“Uefa notes that the CAS panel found that there was insufficient conclusive evidence to uphold all of the CFCB’s conclusions in this specific case and that many of the alleged breaches were time-barred due to the five-year time period foreseen in the Uefa regulations.
“Over the last few years, Financial Fair Play has played a significant role in protecting clubs and helping them become financially sustainable and Uefa and ECA remain committed to its principles.
“Uefa will be making no further comments on the matter.”
Uefa’s CFCB said City had overstated sponsorship revenue in their accounts and in the break-even information submitted between 2012 and 2016, and for failing to co-operate with its investigation.
City immediately signalled their intention to appeal, and CAS has now cleared them to compete in the Champions League next season.
City issued a statement welcoming “the implications” of the ruling.
The statement read: “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.”
CAS found that City had not disguised equity funding as sponsorship, but did say they had failed to co-operate with the CFCB’s investigation.
City’s appeal against the two-year ban was heard last month, and the outcome will be seen by the club as a vindication of their position since the beginning.
CAS found that most of the alleged breaches were either not established or were time-barred.
