Manchester City will be playing in the Champions League next season and in 2021-22 after the Court of Arbitration for Sports overturned their initial two-year ban from the competition.
The Etihad Stadium outfit will now part with just a £9 million fine after they were initially fined £27 million, with CAS saying most of the alleged breaches reported were either not established or time-barred.
City were accused of breaking the Financial Fair Play rules by overstating the sponsorship revenue in their accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.
Failure to play European football for the next two seasons would have dealt a huge blow on Man. City on so many facets, and manager Pep Guardiola, his players and the fans will be glad that the ban has been lifted.
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has reacted thus to CAS’ decision on Twitter:
Manchester City’s ban has been lifted on appeal. Still a fine to be paid, but a huge win for the club.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 13, 2020
Hard to see how UEFA’s FFP rules can survive this. In fact, can UEFA survive the ramifications?
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 13, 2020
The future of some of City’s star players was already being questioned prior to CAS decision, and failure to lift the ban would have seen some of them move on, while some of their transfer targets would have refused to join the club.
CLUB STATEMENT https://t.co/RlR33Vy2bI
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 13, 2020
City always insisted that they weren’t guilty of the several allegations, but the judgment will see a lot of people question the FFP rules and UEFA.
