Manchester City have issued a statement after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced that their punishment for contravening Financial Fair Play regulations has been reduced to a fine.
The Blues protested their innocence throughout the UEFA investigation and immediately returned to CAS when it was announced in February that they would be banned from the Champions League for two years. Club bosses expressed confidence that the decision would be overturned if given a fair trial, and Pep Guardiola was convinced after seeing the evidence.
After a three-day hearing last month - long by CAS standards - it has been decided that City will have to pay UEFA a fine of 10 million euros to UEFA as a result of their lack of co-operation with the initial investigation.
However, importantly for the current squad and player, they will not be banned from UEFA competitions for any length of time.
In response to the decision on Monday morning, a statement on the club website read: "Whilst Manchester City and its legal advisors are yet to review the full ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the club welcomes the implications of today’s ruling as a validation of the Club’s position and the body of evidence that it was able to present.
"The club wishes to thank the panel members for their diligence and the due process that they administered."
