UEFA probe City finance claims

MANCHESTER CITY are under formal investigation by UEFA into whether financial monitoring rules were violated, after months of club documents were published in the Football Leaks series.

European football’s governing body can ban clubs from the Champions League in the most serious breaches of “Financial Fair Play” rules to control spending on player transfers and wages.

UEFA said its independent club finance panel is focusing on “several alleged violations of FFP that were recently made public in various media outlets.”

Internal documents about City’s business and emails between club executives have been published in the Football Leaks series led by ‘Der Spiegel’ magazine. The revelations suggest City officials deceived UEFA over several years, including by disguising the source of revenue from overvalued sponsorships tied to the club’s owners in Abu Dhabi.

UEFA acted after the latest release last Friday included complete emails detailing how Abu Dhabi’s owners secretly paid into inflated commercial deals.

“The accusation of financial irregularities are entirely false,” City responded in a statement , adding it “welcomes the opening” of the formal probe. “(It’s) an opportunity to bring to an end the speculation resulting from the illegal hacking and out of context publication of City emails.”