Man City take UEFA case to CAS

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has confirmed Manchester City have appealed against UEFA’s investigation into alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

City were alleged to have broken rules relating to FFP, third-party ownership and youth player recruitment in articles by German publication Der Spiegel, which drew upon documents purportedly obtained by whistleblowers Football Leaks.

UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) opened a probe into the club in March, with former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme leading as chief investigator but City slammed the move, describing it as a “hostile process”.

And the Premier League champions have now taken their appeal against the investigation to CAS, the organisation confirmed in a statement on Thursday.

“The appeal is filed against decisions taken by the Investigatory Chamber (IC) of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) regarding MCFC’s alleged non-compliance with UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations,” said the statement from CAS.

“An arbitration procedure will now be initiated and will involve an exchange of written submissions between the parties while a panel of CAS arbitrators is convened to hear the appeal.

“Once the panel has been formally constituted, it will issue a procedural calendar. It is not possible to say at this time when the arbitral award for this matter will be issued.

“CAS will not provide any further information in relation to this procedure, except to issue a media release announcing the panel’s decision.”