City ‘confident’ they’ll avoid Euro suspension
Manchester City could face a ban from European club football after a Uefa investigation into potential breaches of financial fair play.
Chief financial fair play investigator Yves Leterme referred their case to the investigatory chamber of its main regulator, the Club Financial Control Body.
But City said in a statemen ty est er day that they are “entirely confident of a positive outcome” when the matter is considered by an independent judicial body.
Leterme, a former prime minister of Belgium, opened his investigation into the Premier League champions on 7 March following a series of reports in German news magazine Der Spiegel late last year which suggested the club had deceived Uefa about its finances.
Based on emails received from the Football Leaks whistle-blowing website, these reports alleged City had inflated the value of their commercial deals with Abu Dhabi-based companies and hid payments to players and staff from the wage bill.
In a statement, Uefa said: “The Club Financial Control Body chief investigator, after having consulted with the other members of the independent investigator y chamber of the CFCB, has decided to refer Manchester City to the CFCB adjudicatory chamber following the conclusion of his investigation.
“The CFC Bin v es ti ga tory chamber had opened an investigation into City on 7 March for potential breaches of financial fair play regulations that were made public in various media outlets.”
It added that it would not be making any further comment until a decision on what punishment City will face, if any, is announced by the CFCB’S adjudicator y chamber.
City, who a reset toce lebrate their second straight Premier League title with an open-top bus parade on Monday and on Saturday take on Watford at Wembley in the final of the FA Cup, did not take long to reply.
In a statement released via their social media channels, the club said :“Manch ester City is disappointed, but regrettably not surprised, by the sudden announcement of the referral to be made by the CFCB chief investigator Yves Leterme.
“The leaks to media over the last week are indicative of the process that has been overseen by Mr Leterme.
“Manchester City is entirely confident of a positive outcome when the matter is considered by an independent judicial body.”
The reference to recent media leaks is related to a New York Times piece from earlier this week which predicted Let er me’s decision and claimed he was pushing for a ban from Europe of at least one year.