Manchester City win appeal to overturn Champions League ban

Manchester City football club will compete in next season’s Uefa Champions League after the English club had their two-year ban from European football overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.

City lodged their appeal to CAS in February after Uefa’s club financial control body issued the suspension in February.

The adjudicatory chamber of the Club Financial Control Body ruled the club had committed “serious breaches” of financial fair play regulations between 2012 and 2016.

City denied all charges. Chief executive Ferran Soriano had said the allegations were “simply not true” and “irrefutable evidence” would be provided to prove the club’s innocence.

CAS’ ruling has vindicated City’s stance. “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,” CAS said.

“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 co-operate with the CFCB’s investigations alone.”

The initial fine of €30 million has been reduced to €10m.