Cas confirm Manchester City appeal against two-season European ban
City are appealing against Uefa's sanction over alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play
February 26, 2020
Manchester City's appeal against Uefa's two-season European ban has been registered, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has announced.
City have vowed to fight the sanction imposed by European football's governing body on February 14 for breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
Although the Cas did not indicate a time-frame for the appeal process, it is expected to take several months.
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In a statement Cas said: "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has registered an appeal filed by Manchester City football club against the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa).
"The appeal is directed against the decision of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Uefa Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) dated 14 February 2020 in which Manchester City was deemed to have contravened Uefa's Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations and sanctioned with exclusion from the next two seasons of Uefa club competitions for which the club would qualify and ordered to pay a fine of 30 million euros.
"Generally speaking, Cas appeal arbitration procedures involve an exchange of written submissions between the parties while a panel of Cas arbitrators is being convened.
"Once the panel has been formally constituted it issues procedural directions, including, inter alia, with respect to the holding of a hearing.
"Following the hearing, the panel deliberates and then issues its decision in the form of an arbitral award.
"It is not possible to indicate at this time when a final award in this matter will be issued."
City chief executive Ferran Soriano last week said the allegations that City breached Uefa’s licensing and financial fair play regulations are "simply not true" and “irrefutable evidence” will be provided to prove the club’s innocence.
As well as being hit with a two-season ban from European club competition, the reigning Premier League champions were also hit with a €30 million (Dh118m) fine after an investigation by the CFCB.
Soriano said he expects the decision to be overturned.
“The fans can be sure of two things. The first one is that the allegations are false, and the second is that we will do everything that can be done to prove so,” he said.
“We know the fans are supporting us. We can feel it. MCFC fans have gone through challenges over the decades. This is just another challenge. We will stick together, we will go through it and we will not let the fans down.”
Concerned by a lack of impartiality in this case, City had raised their concerns with Cas during the investigation and accused Uefa of a “flawed, consistently leaked … and prejudicial process”.
Updated: February 26, 2020 03:20 PM
