CAS overturn Manchester City's two-year Champions League ban!

CAS overturn Manchester City's two-year Champions League ban!

Pep Guardiola y sus jugadores podrán pelear la Champions de la próxima temporada
Pep Guardiola y sus jugadores podrán pelear la Champions de la próxima temporada | sport

The Premier League side will be permitted entry into European football next season

The Court of Arbitration have overturned Manchester City's two-year ban from European football and given the Premier League side the green light to compete in the Champions League next season. 

City's fine has also been reduced to €10 million from the initial €30m fine handed to them by UEFA earlier this year.  

UEFA had banned City from Europe for a breach of Financial Fair Play rules but, following a hearing last month, CAS have ruled in City's favour and overturned the ban. 

A statement from CAS read: "The CAS award emphasised that most of the alleged breaches reported by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the CFCB were either not established or time-barred.

"As the charges with respect to any dishonest concealment of equity funding were clearly more significant violations than obstructing the CFCB's investigations, it was not appropriate to impose a ban on participating in UEFA's club competitions for MCFC's failure to cooperate with the CFCB's investigations alone.

"However, considering i) the financial resources of MCFC; ii) the importance of the cooperation of clubs in investigations conducted by the CFCB, because of its limited investigative means; and iii) MCFC's disregard of such principle and its obstruction of the investigations, the CAS Panel found that a significant fine should be imposed on MCFC and considered it appropriate to reduce UEFA's initial fine by 2/3, i.e. to the amount of EUR 10 million."

The ruling, therefore, seems to hinge on the fact that most of City's breaches happened more than five years ago, which means they are no longer punishable, while also pointing out there was not enough evidence. 

However, City were still fined €10m because of a failure to take part in UEFA's investigation. 

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