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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) has lifted Manchester City’s penalties for the Champions League and the club’s fine.
First, City was excluded from a two-year Champions League ban in February this year.
He found that the Manchester team had overestimated sponsorship revenue in accounts sent between 2012 and 2016, according to European football’s governing body, UEFA.
At the time, the City was barred from participating in competitions between UEFA clubs over the next two seasons and was fined 30 million euros (24.9 million pounds) for allegedly committing “serious violations” of monetary regulations.
A UEFA on 14 February stated: “The Sentencing Chamber, after reviewing all the evidence, concluded that Manchester City Football Club had committed serious violations of the UEFA Rules on Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play by overestimate its source of sponsorship revenue in its accounts. balance sheets submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.”
The City denied the accusations at the time and implemented them before the TAS, stating: “In terms, this is a case initiated through UEFA, pursued through UEFA and attempted through UEFA.”
The appeal has already been heard and in one issued this morning, the TAS said: “The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) has taken its decision in the arbitration proceedings between Manchester City Football Club and the Union of European Football Federations (UEFA). Training
“The case considers an appeal through Manchester City FC (MCFC) opposed to the ruling chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Supervision Board (CFCB) dated 14 February 2020, where it was deemed to have violated the UEFA club’s license and monetary fair play Settlement and penalty for exclusion from participation in UEFA interclub competitions over the next two seasons and a fine of 30 million euros.
“The panel of arbitrators in the case fee, composed of Mr. Rui Botica Santos (Portugal), the President, Prof. Ulrich Haas (Germany) and Mr. Andrew McDougall QC (France), held a hearing with the parties, their legal representatives, witnesses and experts on 8, nine and 10 June 2020.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the CAS panel deliberated and concluded that the ICFC Sentencing Board’s resolution of February 14, 2020 would be annulled and replaced by: a.) MCFC violated Section 56 of the Clean Play Regulations (b)) The MCFC will have to pay a fine of EUR 10,000,000 to UEFA within 30 days of the date of award of the arbitration award.
“The TAS felt that the maximum of the alleged violations reported through the ICFC Sentencing Board was established or prescribed.
“Since the accusations of any capital concealment trap obviously constituted more significant violations than obstructing ICFC’s investigations, it is not appropriate to impose a ban on participation in competitions between UEFA clubs because the MCFC did not cooperate only with ICFC investigations.
“However, given (i) THE FINANCIAL resources of the MCFC; (ii) the importance of the club’s cooperation in ICFC investigations, due to its limited investigative resources; and (iii) the MCFC’s failure to comply with this provision and its obstruction of investigations, the CAS panel considered that a significant fine would be imposed on MCFC and deemed it appropriate to reduce UEFA’s original fine to EUR 2/3, amounting to EUR 10 million. The final reasoned sentence will be posted on the CAS online page in a few days.”
Pep Guardiola’s team has lately led to Liverpool champions in the Premier League standings.
Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne had hinted in the past that the final results of today’s resolution can have an effect on his long career at the club.
Speaking to the Belgian media in May, he said: “Once it’s done, I’ll check everything. Two years [without European football] would be a long time. If it’s a year, I might see it.”