“In December 2018, the UEFA Chief Investigator publicly previewed the outcome and sanction he intended to be delivered to Manchester City, before any investigation had even begun. The subsequent flawed and consistently leaked UEFA process he oversaw has meant that there was little doubt in the result that he would deliver. The Club has formally complained to the UEFA Disciplinary body, a complaint which was validated by a CAS ruling”.
“Simply put, this is a case initiated by UEFA, prosecuted by UEFA and judged by UEFA. With this prejudicial process now over, the Club will pursue an impartial judgment as quickly as possible and will therefore, in the first instance, commence proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the earliest opportunity”.
Manchester City was banned from participating in the Champions League for the next two seasons and fined €30m (£25m) by UEFA over “serious breaches” of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
City were anticipating a potential ban, however, the severity of the punishment comes as a huge blow after UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) found them guilty of falsely inflating sponsorship revenues when submitting evidence for the FFP compliance process.
