Man City was under fire on Friday when UEFA announced that the Premier League team had been banned from the European competition for 2 years (2020/21 and 2021/22) and fined €30 million (UGX 119,382,852,870) making it the second time Manchester City has been punished by UEFA.
In 2014, the team agreed to pay a conditional £49m fine as well as accepting restrictions on the size of its squad for European play and incoming transfers.
Now, Man City faces yet again another sanction from UEFA three months after the team failed in a bid to have the UEFA investigation silenced. City took its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but the court found City’s appeal inadmissible.
Why Man City was banned by UEFA
According to Forbes, in 2018, Spiegel International published a number of articles alleging that Man City had been cutting corners when it came to Uefa Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations and other licensing requirements.
The most threatening allegation was that a holding company, Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, a billionaire brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, funneled money to City sponsors based in Abu Dhabi who then rerouted the money to Manchester City as sponsorship.
Sheikh Mansour is the owner of Manchester City, and as such, the scheme contravened FFP regulations. The allegations were part of a new series of “Football Leaks.” At the time, Manchester City refused to make comment on the accusations but later claimed that Spiegel’s articles were based on hacked and stolen documents that were then taken out of context.
When Man City was officially charged in May of last year it claimed that the club had been subjected to a hostile process that the investigation had ignored a body of “irrefutable evidence.”
The investigatory chamber found Manchester City guilty and the adjudicatory chamber imposed the punishment that was announced on Friday.
Manchester City was found guilty of two charges:
- of falsely inflating sponsorship revenues when making submissions as part of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) compliance process;
- of breaching regulations by failing to cooperate in the investigation of the case by the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB).
UEFA acknowledged the decision but offered no further comment given that Manchester City has the right to appeal to the CAS. If City’s appeal fails and subsequent other action also fails, then the financial cost will far exceed the €30m fine. The 2-year ban could cost City the Champions League prize money at an estimated €200m or more.
The ban could also injure the club’s financial status terribly and may even force some of their players to have their contracts nullified based on the club’s gross misconduct.
There is also a possibility that Pep Guardiola’s future at the club could be under threat and may leave it to find greener pastures elsewhere.
Apart from that, City could face more penalties from the Premier League too if the investigation finds that the same misconduct was applied to its FFP rules which could be a big problem for the club.
Also read: Man United and Chelsea Interested In Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho
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