The club, currently 2nd in the Premier League and qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, has also been fined 30 million euros (31.92 million francs). The club immediately announced that it would appeal to the Sports Arbitral Tribunal (CAS).
The judgment chamber of the Club Financial Control Commission (ICFC) found that the club coached by Pep Guardiola had been guilty of “serious violations” of the rules of financial fair play (FPF), which prohibits a club engaged in European competition to spend more than it earns and closely supervises capital injections from owners.
UEFA’s statement said Manchester City committed “serious breaches” of its financial regulations, and then failed to cooperate with investigators. pic.twitter.com/mSADSVs0K8
– NYT Sports (@NYTSports) February 14, 2020
The club, owned by a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, is thus penalized for having “overvalued the income from sponsorship contracts, in its accounts for the period 2012-2016. As a result, “City is excluded from European competitions for the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons”, decided UEFA.
The chief investigator of the ICFC, the former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, had recommended that City be suspended from the Champions League, in his report sent in May to the trial chamber, according to several media.
Starting point of the investigation opened by UEFA, the Football Leaks, an investigation carried out by a consortium of European newspapers, had revealed the use by the Mancunian club of overvalued sponsorship contracts and diverted contracts to lighten its mass wage.
Manchester City had already been fined 60 million euros (64 million francs), including 20 million firm (21 million), in 2014, for breaking the rules of the FPF.
Created: 02-14-2020, 8:05 p.m.
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