The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), will decide in July on the two-year Champions League ban handed to Manchester City by UEFA.
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A three-day hearing at CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland, ended on Wednesday, with the panel of arbitrators now beginning their deliberations.
City were handed a two-season ban from the European elite club competition, and also ordered to pay a €30million fine after being found guilty of breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations and UEFA Club Licencing rules by the governing body’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB).
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That decision was made on February 14, 2020, and the Pemier League side immediately made it clear that they planned to appeal the decision at CAS.
The hearing took place over the last three days virtually, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Witnesses from various countries gave evidence via video conference, with the participants of UEFA and City watching from Lausanne and London.
With CAS aiming to make a decision next month, it means City will be aware of their fate before the start of the 2020/21 Champions League campaign.
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A CAS spokesman said: “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.
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“The decision is expected to be issued during the first half of July 2020.”
The English champions have strongly maintained their innocence against UEFA’s charges.
Ferran Soriano, City’s chief executive, speaking five days after the February 14 judgement, said:
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“Well the most important thing I have to say today is that the allegations are not true. They are simply not true.
“The owner has not put money in this club that has not been properly declared. We are a sustainable football club, we are profitable, we don’t have debt, our accounts have been scrutinized many times, by auditors, by regulators, by investors and this is perfectly clear.
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“All we are looking for is a proper adjudication in an independent and impartial body that is going to take the time to look at all the evidence and look at it without preconception. I am also looking for the end of this process maybe to put a pen under this undertone that we are hearing all the time that anything that we do, any result that we get is based only on money and not on talent and effort.”
See full CAS statement:
“The hearing in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) arbitration between Manchester City FC and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) concluded at 4:15pm (CET) today. The hearing, initiated on 8 June 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 14 February 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 EUR 30 million.”
