City scramble for CAS clean chit
Premier League champions to appeal two-year ban for violating financial fairplay rules
NYON, SWITZERLAND: Manchester City have been banned from European competitions for the next two seasons for “serious financial fairplay breaches”, UEFA announced on Friday, with the verdict immediately contested by Pep Guardiola’s English champions.
City, who were also fined 30 million euros, announced they were appealing the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) “at the earliest opportunity”. “Manchester City is disappointed but not surprised by today’s announcement by the UEFA Adjudicatory Chamber,” the club said.
“The... flawed and consistently leaked UEFA process he (the UEFA chief investigator) oversaw has meant that there was little doubt in the result that he would deliver...
“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” at CAS.
Guardiola’s City face Real Madrid in this season’s Champions League last 16.
Announcing the ban, a UEFA statement said: “The 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 (2020/21 and 2021/22 .”
European football’s governing body said City “failed to cooperate in the investigation”.
“The adjudicatory chamber, having considered all the evidence, has found that Manchester City Football Club committed serious breaches of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations by overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the breakeven information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.”
City lost a previous appeal to CAS over UEFA’S original decision to refer them to its adjudicatory chamber over the alleged FFP violations. “An appeal would not necessarily lift the suspension but the request can be made,” UEFA said.
The investigation into City was based on leaked emails published last year by German magazine Der Spiegel as part of “Football Leaks”.
Guardiola’s City currently sit second in the Premier League table, meaning the fourth Champions League slot available for English teams would likely go to the fifth-placed club this term. Sheffield United, promoted to the top flight last year, sit in fifth.
THE BREACH
City have been found to be in breach of UEFA’S financial fairplay rules, which place restrictions on how much money a club can lose. Over a three-year period, clubs are not permitted to lose more than 30m euros with exceptions for some costs such as youth development and women’s teams.
UEFA’S club financial control body found that City ensured they did not fall foul of those restrictions by overstating their sponsorship revenue between 2012 and 2016.
It is not the first time Man City have fallen foul of FFP regulations, having been fined 60m euros and seeing their Champions League squad reduced in May 2014. The ban will raise questions about the future of City coach Guardiola and their key players. Guardiola said last month that he could be sacked if he failed to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League last 16.
“If we don’t beat them, OK, come the chairman or the sport director and say, ‘it’s not good enough, we want the Champions League, I’m going to sack you’,” he told Sky Sports.
“I don’t know (if this would happen). It has happened many times and could maybe happen.”
Similarly, players such as Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling are unlikely to want to waste two of their peak years without Champions League football. It would still take huge fees from rival clubs to tempt City to sell, but they may be forced to downsize to gain re-entry to the Champions League even after their ban is over.
Qatari-owned PSG were also fined in 2014. Seven-time European champions AC Milan were banned from this season’s Europa League for FFP breaches. La Liga president Javier Tebas applauded UEFA for their sanctions of Man City, saying: “UEFA is finally taking decisive action. Enforcing the rules of financial fair play and punishing financial doping is essential for the future of football... we finally have a good example of action.”
City face Real Madrid in their first leg at the Bernabeu on February 26, with the second leg at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on March 17. City are not the only English champions with financial problems —Saracens, the Premiership rugby titleholders and European champions have been relegated to the second-tier next season for salary cap breaches.
ABU DHABI PROJECT
Manchester City have enjoyed a meteoric rise from mid-table mediocrity to serial trophy winners thanks to the deep pockets of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour. But now they face their biggest challenge of the new era.
The failure to overturn the ban, even if it is reduced to a oneseason suspension, would have huge ramifications for City on and off the field. Since the Sheikh Mansour takeover in 2008, City have won 10 major trophies— four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four League Cups. Yet the prize that has eluded them is the one the Abu Dhabi project most desires —the UEFA Champions League.
REPERCUSSIONS
City made 93 million euros from UEFA prize money and TV rights from last season’s Champions League, with gate receipts and extra sponsorship revenue from Europe’s premier club competition added to that tally.
It would be almost impossible for the club to lose that level of revenue for two years and remain Ffp-compliant without cutting costs on transfer fees and wages, or selling players. The sanctions may not even have stopped with UEFA. A Premier League investigation into City’s compliance with FFP is also ongoing and could result in a points deduction.
BRAND BUILDING
The great unknown is how Abu Dhabi reacts to the setback. Former City CEO Garry Cook said in December the aim of their takeover was to “create a proxy brand for Abu Dhabi.”
Is that brand now damaged goods, particularly if FFP restrictions mean City’s success on the field is curtailed? On the other hand, the investment from Abu Dhabi has lifted City to the status of one of the world’s heavyweight clubs. The club have reported a combined profit for the past five years of £51 million and revenues have risen to £535 million a year. City are strong enough financially to compete and be Ffp-compliant. It is how they got to that stage that has been their downfall.