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Manchester City are preparing an appeal after being hit with a two-season ban from European football for breaching financial regulations.<\/p>\nManchester City are preparing an appeal after being hit with a two-season ban from European football for breaching financial regulations.<\/p>\n
The Premier League champions, who have also been fined 30million euros (\u00a324.9million), have vowed to fight the verdict of a UEFA investigation into accounts submitted by the club between 2012 and 2016.<\/p>\n
City were left \u201cdisappointed but not surprised\u201d by the governing body\u2019s findings and will swiftly refer the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.<\/p>\n
The heavy sanctions relate to an alleged overstatement of sponsorship revenue in the club\u2019s efforts to comply with Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cManchester City is disappointed but not surprised by (Friday\u2019s) announcement by the UEFA Adjudicatory Chamber,\u201d read a Manchester City statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe subsequent flawed and consistently leaked UEFA process he oversaw has meant that there was little doubt in the result that he would deliver.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimply put, this is a case initiated by UEFA, prosecuted by UEFA and judged by UEFA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this prejudicial process now over, the club will pursue an impartial judgement as quickly as possible and will therefore, in the first instance, commence proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the earliest opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
FFP was introduced by UEFA at the start of the 2011-12 season as an attempt to prevent clubs falling into serious financial difficulty by overspending.<\/p>\n
All clubs competing in UEFA competitions are expected to operate within their means and meet break-even targets, while dealings have to be transparent.<\/p>\n
Should City\u2019s appeal fail and, as expected, they finish in the top four of the Premier League, their Champions League place for next season would pass on to the club which finishes fifth, as outlined under clause 4.08 of UEFA\u2019s Champions League regulations.<\/p>\n
Newly-promoted Sheffield United currently occupy that spot, with Tottenham, Wolves, Everton, and Manchester United just behind and each in contention to potentially benefit from City\u2019s predicament.<\/p>\n
The PA news agency said that they understood that City manager Pep Guardiola has been kept fully informed of the situation by his club and it will be business as usual for the time being.<\/p>\n
Spaniard Guardiola has won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and twice lifted the League Cup since arriving at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, but European glory has proved elusive.<\/p>\n
His current contract runs until the summer of 2021.<\/p>\n
Findings published by UEFA also state that City failed to cooperate in the investigation of the case, which was conducted by the independent Adjudicatory Chamber of the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB).<\/p>\n
UEFA\u2019s statement read: \u201cThe Adjudicatory Chamber, having considered all the evidence, has found that Manchester City committed serious breaches of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations by overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Adjudicatory Chamber has also found that in breach of the regulations the Club failed to cooperate in the investigation of this case by the CFCB.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Adjudicatory Chamber has imposed disciplinary measures on Manchester City Football Club directing that it shall be excluded from participation in UEFA club competitions in the next two seasons (ie. the 2020\/21 and 2021\/22 seasons) and pay a fine of 30 million euros.\u201d<\/p>\n
City will be able to fulfill their last-16 two-legged Champions League tie with Real Madrid, which begins later this month, before their two-season expulsion begins next term.<\/p>\n
UEFA opened a fresh investigation into City, who had been previously punished with a fine in 2014, following a series of new allegations about the club in the media, led by German magazine Der Spiegel.<\/p>\n
It was alleged that City\u2019s breaches of FFP around the same period ran much deeper than UEFA realized at the time of the 2014 settlement.<\/p>\n