Potential sanctions Man City may face before the FFP: Following having been bought by the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates in 2008, City was charged in the English Premier League in February of last year with providing false information about its financial situation over a nine-year period between the years 2009 and 2018.
The hearing into several alleged financial breaches was scheduled to begin on Monday, representing the greatest danger to the reign of Manchester City dominance in the Premier League.
The reputation of City is at stake, and the penalty may be as severe as being kicked out of the league.
The four-time league champion, City, disputes the accusations, which include giving false information regarding its financial situation. A group of attorneys will have the task of clearing the club’s record and putting an end to the charges that have clouded its extraordinary run of success.
After being bought in the ruling family of Abu Dhabi in 2008, City was charged by the English Premier League in February of last year of giving misleading data about its financial standing over a nine-year period between the years 2009 and 2018. In an attempt to establish itself as one of the finest clubs in Europe, City bought some of the top players in the world at the time, like Gonzalo Aguero, the Kevin de Bruyne, & Yaya Toure. The team achieved the league three times in the past three years: 2012, 2014, & 2018.
The league’s financial equitable play regulations are made to ensure certain teams basically spend the money they make and that corporate transactions are evaluated in order to assess whether they are at a fair market value.
The claims came after a four-year probe and the publication of stolen emails and other documents by German magazine Der Spiegel starting in 2018. The documents state that City made an effort to hide its source of income in order to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules that are upheld by UEFA, the body that regulates European soccer, and the Premier League.
In addition, City was charged with violating the investigation’s terms because of its purported lack of cooperation.
An independent commission composed of three judges nominated by the attorney who presides over the league’s judicial panel will hear the charges. A decision is not anticipated until the next year, and the hearing will take place behind closed doors.
What accusations and potential sanctions Man City may face before the FFP:
A “serious violation” of the league’s rules might result in a variety of punishments. The league’s regulations state that if City is found guilty of any of the fees, it may face fines, point expenses, or in “extreme instances, ejection from the competition.”
When the charges emerged last year, the city stated its staff was taken back.
According to a statement from the Club, it is pleased that an impartial commission will be reviewing the case and taking into account the substantial amount of unquestionable evidence that the Club has to offer to support its position. “Thus, we anticipate that this issue will be resolved once and for all.”
Pep Guardiola has frequently criticized City’s treatment.
He remarked, “My first thought is we are already being condemned,” upon the announcement of the allegations. “We are fortunate to reside in a wonderful nation where everyone is presumed innocent till proven guilty. This was not an opportunity we had. We have already received a sentence.
The rules, referred to as Financial Fair Play, are designed to stop clubs from spending more money than they make. After the global financial crisis of 2008, which intensified concerns in European football that clubs would go bankrupt if player transactions and wages continued to rise, FFP was founded.
In 2014, after breaking FFP regulations, City was fined 60 million euros (then $82 million) by UEFA and had to reduce its senior player roster for the Champions League from 25 to 21. In the end, City only had to give up 20 million euros in prize money after following the guidelines set forth by the regulating body.
The “Football Leaks” article series, which debuted in 2018 in the German magazine Der Spiegel, was purportedly based on internal City papers and correspondence. They implied that City had violated FFP regulations in its financial dealings with Abu Dhabi-based “related-party” sponsors.
City was barred from UEFA play for two seasons in February 2020 due to “serious breaches,” which included lying about sponsor revenue and refusing to assist with inquiries.
In July 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reversed the ban, finding that certain UEFA claims were not established and that certain material was eliminated due to the passage of time. Despite the fact that Man City’s obstruction of UEFA’s inquiry was “strongly condemned” by the court, only a €10 million ($10.7 million) fine remained from the original punishment.