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Secrecy surrounds Man City’s CAS challenge to UEFA ban

Published:Sunday | June 7, 2020 | 12:38 AM
FILE In this Wednesday, February 26, 2020 file photo, Real Madrid’s Isco (right) duels for the ball with Manchester City’s Kyle Walker during the Champions League, round of 16, first-leg match between Real Madrid and Manchester City at the Santiago Ber
AP
FILE In this Wednesday, February 26, 2020 file photo, Real Madrid’s Isco (right) duels for the ball with Manchester City’s Kyle Walker during the Champions League, round of 16, first-leg match between Real Madrid and Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Spain.

GENEVA (AP):

A rare level of secrecy cloaks the court case opening tomorrow to decide if Manchester City will stay banned from European competition for two seasons.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has scheduled three days at an undisclosed location for an appeal hearing by videoconference link connecting lawyers in Switzerland and England.

The Lausanne-based court said on Friday both City and UEFA requested confidentiality for the case. Neither party commented to The Associated Press.

The identities of the three CAS judges – selected by each side and the court – have also been protected in an intensely scrutinised legal fight.

The allegations include that City, owned by Abu Dhabi’s royal family, misled UEFA over several years to comply with financial integrity rules for clubs.

The stakes are high in a case that provokes the tribal loyalties of club football and the distrust some fans have for sports ruling bodies.

If City’s appeal fails, they face losing hundreds of millions of dollars in UEFA prize money and some star players during a two-year exile from world football’s most prized club competition.

Defeat for UEFA would undermine the Financial Fair Play (FFP) policy it says helps stabilise the football economy across 55 member nations.

Whatever the judges decide, City are still a contender to win this season’s Champions League.

The CAS panel’s verdict is expected before the round of 16 resumes in August, five months after UEFA paused games due to the coronavirus pandemic.

‘SERIOUS BREACHES’

City were punished in February for “serious breaches” of UEFA’s FFP rules monitoring club finances and failing to cooperate with investigators.

The investigation was opened by UEFA-appointed experts after leaked club documents were reported in German magazine Der Spiegel in November 2018.

The published evidence appeared to show City deceived UEFA by overstating sponsorship deals from 2012-16 and hid the source of revenue linked to state-backed companies in Abu Dhabi.

A UEFA-appointed judging panel excluded City from playing in the Champions League, Europa League and Super Cup until the 2022-23 season.

City were also fined 30 million euros from their Champions League prize money, almost one-third of their UEFA payout for reaching the quarter-finals last season.

The club denies wrongdoing.