The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has announced that the court will give its final verdict on the appeal of Manchester City against a two-year European ban on Monday morning.
Manchester City‘s trouble started in November 2018 when a German magazine, Der Spiegel, published leaked documents of the club showing that City breached the FIFA Fair Play (FFP) rules by putting money into the club disguised as sponsorship income.
The leaked document published by the German publication also alleged that Etihad Airways was paying only £8 million of a £67 million sponsorship agreement with City.
This prompted UEFA‘s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) to stage an investigation into the allegation. Manchester City tried to stop the proceedings on procedural grounds through CAS but the Sport judicial body kicked out the attempt in November 2019.
In February 2020, CFCB found City guilty of committing a “serious breaches” of Uefa’s FFP regulations by overstating sponsorship revenue and break-even information in accounts submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016. Hence, the Premier League club received two-year European ban and were fined €30 million (£25 million)
City was not pleased with the outcome of the case, hence, they dragged it to CAS and appealed that the judgement should be overturned. CAS heard the case for over three days, from 8 June to 10 June, via video conference.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce the decision taken in the arbitration procedure between Manchester City Football Club and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on Monday, 13 July 2020″, CAS announced on Friday.
In reaction to the case, the manager of the club, Pep Guardiola said during a press conference on Friday that he is confident that the judgement will be overturned to favour Manchester City.
“I’m confident because I saw the arguments of the club that next season we will be there but we have to wait and after I give my opinion or the club will give their statement”, Guardiola said.
What Manchester City Stand to Lose if City Lose the Appeal
Manchester City are still in this season UEFA Champions League and they are in a very good position to qualify for the quarter-final stage of the competition. They will face Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium on 7th or 8th of August for the second leg of the last 16. City won the first leg 1-2 in Madrid before the coronavirus break. Whatever happens on Monday, will not stop City from going on with this season’s competition.
Meanwhile, if City’s appeal fails, the fact that they are currently occupying the 2nd spot on the Premier League table will not matter as they will not be allowed to play in any European Club competition for two seasons.
This will greatly affect the calibre of players that will agree to join the club during this transfer window and subsequent transfer windows until the ban is lifted. Besides that, some of their top players like 29-year-old Kevin de Bruyne might not have the patience to wait for two seasons before he can return to Champions League football.
Monetarily, Manchester City will lose £100 million in revenue every season they are not involved in Champions League football. That means that in two seasons, they will lose at least £200 million.
