Man City to know Champions League fate in July

Manchester City will discover their Champions League fate “in the first half of July” according to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the Premier League club’s appeal over their ban came to an end.

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City were handed a two-year suspension from European club competitions and a €30 million fine by UEFA in February after being found guilty of breaching financial fair play regulations.

After City lodged an appeal with CAS, the hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland was concluded on Wednesday with a decision expected in around four weeks’ time.

“The hearing in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) arbitration between Manchester City FC and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) concluded today,” a CAS statement issued on Wednesday read.

“The hearing, initiated on June 8, 2020 in the morning, was conducted by videoconference, with participants in Lausanne and London, and expert witnesses in various countries, in accordance with the schedule planned.

“At the end of the hearing, both parties expressed their satisfaction with respect to the conduct of the procedure.

“The Panel of arbitrators in charge of the matter, composed of Mr Rui Botica Santos (Portugal), president, Prof. Ulrich Haas (Germany) and Mr Andrew McDougall QC (France), will start its deliberations and prepare the Arbitral Award containing their decision.

“The decision is expected to be issued during the first half of July 2020. The exact date will be communicated in advance.

“The CAS arbitration concerns an appeal filed by Manchester City FC against the decision of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) dated Feb. 14, 2020 in which it was deemed to have contravened UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations and sanctioned with exclusion from participation in UEFA club competitions in the next two seasons and ordered to pay a fine of €30m.”

If the sanction is upheld, City will be barred from entering the Champions League for the next two seasons.

Sources close to the club have maintained their innocence since the judgement was issued by UEFA in February, despite the governing body’s insistence that the City have been guilty of “serious breaches” of FFP regulations.