EXCLUSIVE: UEFA 'bottled' Man City's 2020 Champions League ban

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FT Desk

UEFA 'bottled' the opportunity to ban Manchester City from the Champions League six years ago over their finances.

European football's governing body initially banned City from the competition for two seasons in February of 2020 because they found that the club had committed serious breaches of its Financial Fair Play rules.

UEFA said City had overstated sponsorship revenue in information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016. UEFA also found that City had failed to properly cooperate with the investigation. The original punishment was a two-year Champions League suspension and a €30 million fine.

The Premier League side appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In July 2020, CAS overturned the European competition ban, saying there was insufficient conclusive evidence to uphold the most serious allegations, and that some alleged breaches were outside UEFA's five-year time limit. However, CAS did find that City had failed to cooperate with UEFA's investigation, so it kept a punishment but reduced the fine from €30m to €10m.

Do Man City need to admit their guilt to save themselves? 🤔

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Fast-forward six years and City have been found guilty of 114 financial breaches between the years of 2009 and 2018 by the Premier League. The punishment could be as severe as relegation via a points deduction, while there is undoubtedly a hefty fine coming as well.

Why, then, did UEFA not nip the situation in the bud those years ago?

Duncan Castles, speaking to journalist Nick Harris, sets the scene on The Transfers Podcast:

"The length of time of this is remarkable. I didn't actually realise how long ago it was that the documentary evidence came out with those FootballLeaks documents, internal documents from Manchester City and elsewhere, released, published by Der Spiegel and the Portuguese paper Espresso. That was back in November 2018.

"That's how long this process has been dragged out. And you've done quite a lot of reporting specifically on how Manchester City dragged the investigation and questioned even the right of the Premier League to investigate and prosecute them over the case there. Just firstly, I'll say that we had November 2018, the Leaks.

“Abu Dhabi Manchester City has to be removed from the whole league system”

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"In March 2019, UEFA Club Financial Control Body formally began investigating Manchester City over breaches of financial fair play rules. There was a hearing in January 2020, which Manchester City failed to cooperate with in multiple ways and remains guilty of. That was the one substantial part of the UEFA verdict that was held up when Manchester City appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and which a €10 million fine remained for.

“On Valentine's Day 2020, UEFA handed down a two-season European club competition ban and a €30 million fine after it found the club guilty of committing serious breaches of the governing body's club licensing and financial fair play regulations that called those a 'sophisticated, thoughtful and fundamental attempt to circumvent or violate.'

" In July 2020, CAS overturned part of that guilty verdict and reduced the fine to €10 million, removed the Champions League ban. Before we talk about what Manchester City did to slow down the Premier League process, let's just, I think it's worth talking about why CAS partially overturned the UEFA decision."

Why, then, did UEFA not follow through with their investigation? Harris, who has been investigating City's finances for nearly two decades, has a theory.

“To simplify it, they bottled it. UEFA bottled it," Harris explained.

"And they bottled it because they had the opportunity during Manchester City's appeal to force Manchester City to disclose further evidence that would have been self-incriminating.

A MASSIVE opportunity for the Premier League 👀

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"And they decided for reasons that are unfathomable not to do that. They decided not to demand extra evidence. Obviously, the CAS process was also time-barred.

"So some of the things that CAS concluded were dodgy about Manchester City's behaviour happened before they were out with the period that was under consideration because of time-barring. But basically UEFA bottled it. Why did they bottle it?

"I think possibly because UEFA wanted to have clarity and a final decision before the new football season began in 2020. So probably they felt that their case was quite strong already and that they would win on appeal but also they just wanted it done and dusted and not to drag over into the league season and whether Manchester City would or wouldn't be in the Champions League. So it was a combination.”

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FT Desk

FootballTransfers' desk

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