MANCHESTER CITY BEGIN CAS APPEAL
This week is one of the biggest in the history of Premier League giants, Manchester City, as their participation in subsequent European competitions hangs by a thread as they begin their appeal before the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS), in disagreement with a two-year ban.
Recall that City was banned from all European football competitions by CAS on February 14th, 2020, for breaking UEFA’s Financial fair play (FFP) rules between 2012 and 2016. The court also fined them 30 million euros.
City would miss out on the prestigious, money-spinning UEFA Champions League (UCL) for the next two seasons except they convince CAS in a three-day video conference hearing.
‘’The hearing has started well and the video conference is working well,’’ Matthieu Reeb, Secretary-General of CAS told reporters.
However, the Secretary-General disclosed that the final verdict would be announced in July.
The EPL champions have flourished under the ownership of Sheikh Mansour winning four titles in the last eight years, and leaving the football community breathless and relentless with their brand and style of play.
Sheikh Mansour took ownership of the citizens in 2008 and has spent 1.6 billion pounds on players. However, the club is yet to deliver the highly coveted ‘Holy Grail’- the UCL.
The implications of a two-season ban from all European competitions for city cannot be overemphasised. It delivers a huge blow to the status, and finances of the football club, and hopes of keeping manager, Pep Guardiola, and key players like Sergio Aguero, Kelvin De Bruyne, and Raheem Sterling sits on a knife-edge.
Manchester City got 93 million euros from prize money and television rights by getting to the last eight of the money-spinning UCL last season.
The citizens look to have UCL qualification secured with a 12-point lead over fifth-placed Manchester United.
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