Man City Still Risk Champions League Ban at the End of Season as Financial Fair Play Case Rumbles On

​Manchester City may have to wait until the end of the season before their Financial Fair Play ruling, with the legal case set up by UEFA due to take months to reach a verdict.

If found guilty, the Citizens could be faced with a potential Champions League ban, but the complex legal case being built is taking longer than initially expected.

The case came about when Europe's governing body investigated an incident in March after internal emails, which arose as a result of the Football Leaks published by German publication Der Spiegel, that appeared to suggest the club deliberately inflated sponsorship agreements.

Said leaked emails allegedly showed the ​Premier League side using sponsorship deals to circumvent the amount of money that owners are allowed to put into a club over the past few years. 


It is claimed that the club's owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, had paid up to £60m as opposed to being paid by the club's airline sponsor, Etihad.


In turn, ​City then launched their own pre-emptive strike against UEFA in June, taking their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge the legitimacy of UEFA's investigation. While no set date was confirmed for the ruling, ​The Times report that it may take as long as the rest of the season to iron out.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan

This isn't the first time City have found themselves in hot water. They previously paid a settlement of £49m having been found to have broken UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules back in 2014. 

However, they had that fine reduced to £18m after complying with certain measures agreed as part of the punishment.


Source : 90min