Manchester City face £150m hit after being banned from Europe

MaNCHESTER City are facing a financial hit of more than £150million after being been banned from the Champions league for two seasons.

The Premier league champions were found to have committed ‘serious breaches’ of UEFa’s licensing and financial fair play regulations.

They were also fined £25million in a landmark judgment, and face missing out on almost £100 million in potential revenue for each year they are excluded. In 2018, Manchester City earned more than £77million from Champions league participation, which included TV rights and performance.

They are also likely to suffer in terms of sponsorship and match day revenue going forward, as well as talent retention.

It is the most severe punishment ever handed to a club by European football’s governing body, and the first example of a club being banned from the competition.

Manchester City were found guilty of falsely inflating their sponsorship revenues and therefore misleading UEFa. The governing body also said City failed to co-operate with its investigation into the matter. The initial investigation was triggered by leaked emails which appeared to show that club owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed alNahyan was funding the team’s sponsorship through his country’s airline Etihad.

German magazine Der Spiegel exposed the ‘Football leaks’, which alleged that about 90 per cent of sponsorship revenue – almost £60million – was coming from Mansour’s own company.

This meant the club was violating financial fair play rules introduced in 2011, which restrict the amount owners can put into their clubs to cover any losses.

City have already confirmed they will appeal the decision via the Court of arbitration for Sport. They said in a statement that they were ‘disappointed but not surprised’ by the announcement.