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The impending ban on Manchester City has been lifted earlier today by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
This means that City will feature in the 2020/21 edition of the UEFA Champions League.
CAS, also reduced Manchester City’s fine from €30m to €10m (£8.96m).
The club were initially handed a ban by the UEFA’s club financial control body (CFCB) in February for “serious breaches” of club licensing and financial fair play regulations.
The body claimed City overstated its sponsorship revenue and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016, and for failing to co-operate with its investigation.
A statement from CAS read: “As the charges with respect to any dishonest concealment of equity funding were clearly more significant violations than obstructing the CFCB’s investigations, it was not appropriate to impose a ban on participating in UEFA’s club competitions for MCFC’s failure to co-operate with the CFCB’s investigations alone.
“However, considering i) the financial resources of MCFC; ii) the importance of the cooperation of clubs in investigations conducted by the CFCB, because of its limited investigative means; and iii) MCFC’s disregard of such principle and its obstruction of the investigations, the CAS Panel found that a significant fine should be imposed on MCFC and considered it appropriate to reduce UEFA’s initial fine by 2/3, i.e. to the amount of EUR 10 million.”
The English Premier League expressed satisfaction of CAS ruling.
“Whilst Manchester City and its legal advisors are yet to review the full ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the club welcomes the implications of today’s ruling as a validation of the club’s position and the body of evidence that it was able to present.
“The club wishes to thank the panel members for their diligence and the due process that they administered.”
