Manchester City have appealed against Uefa’s investigation into potential breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has confirmed.
City face the prospect of a one-year ban from the Champions League if found to have circumvented regulations on spending by Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body.
Last month, Uefa escalated their probe into City when Yves Leterme, head of the CFCB’s investigatory arm, concluded that the Premier League champions have a case to answer.
The case was referred to Uefa’s adjudicatory chamber, which was set to decide City’s punishment in the coming weeks and months.
However, on Thursday, it was confirmed that in a pre-emptive strike before the case can be heard, City have asked CAS to quash Uefa’s investigation.
A CAS statement read: “The appeal is filed against decisions taken by the investigatory chamber of the Uefa Club Financial Control Body regarding MCFC’s alleged non-compliance with Uefa’s club licensing and financial fair play regulations.”
“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 calender. It is not possible to say at this time when the arbitral award for this matter will be issued.”
Uefa launched their investigation after internal City emails, obtained by the website Football Leaks and published by German magazine Der Spiegel, appeared to show that the club inflated sponsorship agreements.
City deny wrongdoing. In a statement released last month, the club said: “Manchester City is entirely confident of a positive outcome when the matter is considered by an independent judicial body.
“The accusation of financial irregularities remains entirely false and the CFCB [investigatory chamber] referral ignores a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence provided by Manchester City.”
