MANCHESTER CITY FC did not disguise equity financing as sponsorship contributions, but did not work with the UEFA authorities
CAS DECISION: EXCLUSION FROM PARTICIPATION IN UNUSED UEFA CLUB COMPETITIONS; NICE MAINTENANCE, BUT REDUCED TO EUR 10 MILLION
After the hearing, the CAS panel advised and decided that the decision made by the CFCB Judicial Chamber on February 14, 2020 should be overturned and replaced by the following: a.) MCFC has Article 56 of the Club Licensing and Financial Fair violate rules of the game. b.) MCFC will pay UEFA a fine of EUR 10,000,000 within 30 days of the award date.
The CAS Prize emphasized that most of the alleged violations reported by the CFCB Judicial Chamber were either undetermined or time-barred. As the dishonest concealment of the equity financing charge was clearly more serious than hindering the CFCB’s investigation, it was not appropriate to ban participation in UEFA club competitions because MCFC did not work solely with the CFCB’s investigation.
However, considering i) MCFC’s financial resources; ii) the importance of association cooperation in the CFCB’s investigation due to its limited investigative resources; and iii) MCFC disregarded this principle and hindered the investigation. The CAS Panel decided that MCFC should be fined significantly and considered it appropriate to reduce UEFA’s original fine by 2/3, ie to EUR 10 million.
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