Manchester City Champions League Ban Overturned

On February 14 2020, City were banned from the Champions League for two seasons and fined €30 million by UEFA over serious breach of UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations. The consequences of this was seen deep as Pep Guardiola was yet to sign an extension to his contract which ends in 2021 and top players like Kevin de Bruyne opened that they might be forced to leave if City weren’t in the Champions League.

The decision would also see City staring at a revenue loss well in excess of 100 million euros and star players walking out since they would not compete in the European top flight for 2 years. Yesterday, a verdict was delivered by a panel of arbitrators in charge of the matter comprising Rui Botica Santos (Portugal), president, Ulrich Haas (Germany) and Andrew McDougall QC (France), the CAS said: “… the decision issued on 14 February 2020 by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the CFCB should be set aside and replaced by the following:
a) MCFC has contravened Article 56 of the Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations.
b) MCFC shall pay a fine of EUR 10,000,000 to the UEFA, within 30 days as from the date of issuance of the arbitral award.

Do you think Manchester City have escaped punishment for the most serious charge against them by using their Financial muscle at a huge cost to UEFA?

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This is just another win for those with the deepest pockets in a game that has been permanently disfigured by greed and corruption. UEFA were only prompted to investigate after German newspaper Der Spiegel published leaked emails and documents in November 2018, but it was already up to five years after the alleged infringements between 2012 and 2016.

What took UEFA so long to investigate a breach of their own rules and why did it only happen after a media investigation? UEFA has lost appeals against AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain in the past, but this case has pushed them further than ever and proved UEFA to be a corrupt and malign organization.

When FFP was introduced back in 2011, it promised to herald a new era that would protect clubs from debt and force them to live within their means, preventing reckless investment from dubious external backers - Russian oligarchs, American venture-capitalists and oil-rich states with questionable track records on corruption and human rights. Instead, it’s proved to be a protectionist racket that has created an environment which encouraged just that. UEFA has overreached and is now unable to implement its own rules. This decision is a dark day for football and its fans.

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:moneybag:MAN CITY BAN OVERTURNED!:moneybag: Man City vs UEFA

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Money is more powerful than you think!

Man City FC existence was at stake and I guess levying fine was the best way to make amends for the breach. Couple of days of discussion and resentment - soon football world will be busy talking about the next game.

Well said by Jose Mourinho:

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Huge victory for Man City!

Financially, if City had been banned from European football for two seasons, they could have missed out on as much as £200m in lost revenue (£100m per season) on top of their original €30m fine.

A ban would also have raised questions over the futures of star players and manager Pep Guardiola, while transfer targets may have been put off a move to the club and preferred other destinations where they could play in the Champions League.

But those worries are behind City now, with them free to play in the Champions League next season.

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Klopp on City’s CL ban being lifted: “I am happy that City can play Champions League next year, if they had 10 or 12 less games to play next season I wouldn’t see any chance for anyone else in the league.”

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This is what Klopp said after Man City’s UEFA Champions League ban lifted.

“I am happy that City can play in the Champions League but I don’t think it was a good day for football yesterday, to be honest.Just because I think FFP is a good idea. It’s there for protecting teams, protecting the competition.That was the idea at the start, that nobody overspends and stuff like this. Clubs have to make sure that money they want to spend is based on the right sources.I really hope that FFP stays because it gives at least kind of borders that you can go to but not over, which is good for football.If you start doing it so that nobody cares anymore, the richest people or countries can do what they want to do and that would make the competition really difficult.I think that would automatically lead to a world super league, with like 10 clubs.”

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"It was a good day for football, as we play with the same rules as all the clubs in Europe. If we had broken the rules, we’d be banned.

“The people [who] say we cheated were lying and the presumption of innocence wasn’t there. Of course, now we are incredibly happy because we can defend what we’ve done on the pitch.” “We should be apologised to,”. Pep Guardiola said in defence of his club.

“I know for the elite clubs – Liverpool, United, Arsenal – are not comfortable [with us] being here,” But we deserve to be here and we don’t have to ask permission to be there. When we lose I shake their hands and congratulate them, all the time we have done it. Guys accept it, we wanted to be here and we tried on the pitch. If you do not agree, knock on the door and speak to our chairman and our CEO – don’t go whispering.

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Money%20Power

Paisa Bolta Hai! :moneybag:

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