A look at the legal issues in Man City's appeal against UEFA
Manchester City's legal fight with UEFA was expected, but how the English champion will organize its legal tactics is not yet clear.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday confirmed City met a 10-day deadline to file an appeal against a two-year ban from European competition — punishment imposed for "serious breaches" of UEFA's club finance monitoring rules and failing to cooperate with the investigation.
The court's update came hours before City was to play in the Champions League at Real Madrid.
The aristocratic, 13-time European champions are just the kind of soccer power City's owners from the Abu Dhabi royal family aimed to dethrone when buying an underachieving club in 2008. More than $1 billion of investment has brought four Premier League titles, the attention of UEFA investigators and still no European trophy.
City faces a likely tough case at CAS, which has previously upheld UEFA's "Financial Fair Play" system and the use of evidence obtained by methods illegal under Swiss law.
Still, City chief executive Ferran Soriano insisted last week "the allegations are false" and promised fans "we will do everything that can be done to prove so."
UEFA excluded City from playing in the Champions League, Europa League or Super Cup in the next two seasons. UEFA also fined City 30 million euros.
The investigation was opened after leaked club documents were reported in German magazine Der Spiegel in November 2018. The published evidence appeared to show City deceived UEFA by overstating sponsorship deals from 2012-16 and hid the source of revenue tied to its owners in Abu Dhabi.
UEFA's rules allow unlimited spending on stadiums and youth development, but control spending on player transfers and wages. Clubs must break even on spending their commercial income set at fair market rates.
In Manchester, club officials reportedly call the pending appeal "CAS Two." In " CAS One," City lost its attempt in November to have UEFA's investigation thrown out on procedural grounds.
The case is likely to be fasttracked and will start at sport's highest court in Lausanne, Switzerland. It could later go to the Swiss Federal Tribunal for a further appeal.
If City does not like the results in Lausanne, longer-term options include the European Commission in Brussels and European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The UEFA judge who oversaw banning City, José Narciso da Cunha Rodrigues, sat at the European court for 12 years.
The case could also be settled out-of-court. That decision would involve UEFA leaders, including president Aleksander Ceferin, instead if its independent investigators and judges.
For UEFA, a prolonged contest with wealthy and determined club owners could be risky. A private agreement would surely be ratified by CAS.
If City's appeal is lost, or only partially upheld by July, the club can seek a quick interim decision from a supreme court judge while the main federal appeal is prepared. A provisional freeze on UEFA's ban could clear City to enter the next Champions League in September.
In May 2018, Peru captain Paolo Guerrero got a provisional federal ruling allowing him to play at his first World Cup weeks later. The 34-year-old Guerrero ultimately lost his federal appeal against a 14-month ban for doping.
"I would see much more reluctance on the side of the Swiss judges unless they are very confident Man City will prevail," said Duval, who works at the Asser Institute in The Hague.
Key documents published in the "Football Leaks" series were likely obtained by a hacker now detained in Portugal.
City never disputed that the revelations were based on authentic information. Instead, it argued the evidence was stolen and reported out of context.
Illegally obtained evidence has been allowed by CAS and the federal court, including in appeals by FIFA officials filmed by undercover reporters and Ukrainian soccer players who fixed matches.