Guardiola, Man City Receive Bad News after Premier League title win
Manchester City have received a piece of bad news after winning the English Premier League as the European football governing body, UEFA, may ban the Pep Guardiola led team from the Champions League.
Manchester City have been under investigation from UEFA for allegedly breaching the financial fair play rule, and the European football governing body are looking to ban the English champions from competing in the UEFA Champions League as a punishment.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is regarded as some as the GREATEST team in the English Premier League history for amassing a total 198 points in just two seasons, but many have said the Spaniard’s Cityzens will have to win the Champions League to be regarded as the best, now the chance to win that may be impossible if UEFA should impose the ban.
Manchester City’s title celebrations have been tempered by news that UEFA investigators will push for a Champions League ban for alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations. Insiders at UEFA believe any potential ban would not apply until the 2020-21 season because the process is ongoing but it could coincide with a FIFA transfer ban over the signing of under-18 players.
A ban from the Champions League would certainly increase the pressure on Pep Guardiola to deliver the prize his employers covet most in the next campaign. The investigatory chamber of UEFA’s financial control board have spent months examining the evidence first uncovered in a series of leaks and reported by German publication Der Spiegel last year.
And according to a report in the New York Times on Monday night a meeting two weeks ago at UEFA’s Swiss headquarters concluded with a desire to seek at least a one-season ban. The investigatory panel’s leader, former Belgium prime minister Yves Leterme, has the final say on any submission made to a separate adjudicatory chamber.
A conclusion is unlikely to be reached before the start of the next Champions League competition when City, who deny any financial wrongdoing, would almost certainly appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. “The accusation of financial irregularities are entirely false. The club’s published accounts are full and complete and a matter of legal and regulatory record,” City said in a statement earlier this year.
In December Sportsmail reported that City are facing a ban from Europe’s most prestigious competition amid claims that they inflated sponsorship deals seemingly to beat UEFA’s FFP system. Among the reports, based on documents seized by Football Leaks, was a claim that City’s holding company paid £59.5million of Etihad’s annual sponsorship deal, with only £8m coming from the airline.
SOURCE: dailyadvent.com
