9 EPL clubs filed City complaint

LONDON • Manchester City showed a "blatant disregard" for Uefa's investigation into alleged Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches, according to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but European football's governing body failed to prove the English club had disguised funding from their owners as sponsorship income.

Earlier this month, the CAS overturned a two-year ban from European competitions imposed on City by Uefa and reduced a fine of €30 million (S$48.5 million) to €10 million. The decision means City are able to compete in next season's Champions League.

The full reasoned judgment by the CAS released on Tuesday showed that the fine was to reflect "a severe breach" in City's unwillingness to cooperate with Uefa's investigation.

But noting that the charges of alleged concealment of equity funding were more significant violations, the CAS said "based on the evidence, the panel cannot reach the conclusion that disguised funding was paid to City".

The CAS also indicated that witness statements from senior City executives as well as a letter from owner Sheikh Mansour - all provided to CAS but not Uefa during the first process - could have swung the original verdict in City's favour.

"The appealed decision is therefore not per se wrong but, at least to a certain extent, is a consequence of MCFC's decision to produce the most relevant evidence at its disposal only in the present appeal proceedings before CAS," it said.

The judgment also found that Uefa's case was hamstrung by the necessity to finalise the appeal before the start of the 2020-21 Champions League as it relinquished a request for more evidence to be provided from City's e-mails.

Nine Premier League clubs - Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Tottenham and Wolves - filed an application to CAS for City to be banned from European competition if a verdict was not reached before the start of the 2020-21 season.

City's fortunes on the field have been transformed since a takeover from Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, in 2008. The club were accused of deliberately inflating the value of income from Emirati sponsors Etisalat and Etihad Airways to meet Uefa's FFP regulations, which limits losses clubs can incur to spend on player transfer fees and wages.

Uefa launched an investigation after German magazine Der Spiegel published a series of leaked e-mails relating to City's finances in 2018.

CAS ruled that the leaked documents could be used as evidence but noted that they did not prove the existence of any actual transactions that broke Uefa's rules and no evidence was produced that such payments were carried out.

The court also pointed out that the leaked e-mails were distributed internally and not sent to sponsors or other parts of the club's United Arab Emirates-based owners.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS