Double jeopardy! UEFA closes in as City's nightmare deepens
Manchester City thought they were fighting on one front. They were wrong. Europe's governing body has now set its sights on the reigning Premier League leaders, and the timing could hardly be worse.
Details: According to Sky Sports, UEFA is monitoring developments and will wait until the end of the Premier League's disciplinary process before deciding whether to take potential action against Manchester City. The independent commission's verdict upheld five charges relating to the club's failure to comply with UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, and any UEFA charges would come only after the English process concludes.
This is not UEFA's first dance with City. In 2014 the club accepted a settlement agreement with a £49 million fine, £32 million of it suspended, for breaking break-even rules, and in 2020 UEFA handed City a two-year European ban and a €30 million fine, only for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the suspension on the grounds that most alleged breaches were either not established or time-barred, cutting the fine to €10 million for failing to cooperate. That history cuts both ways now. UEFA's financial regulations carry a five-year statute of limitations, whereas the Premier League has none, which is why the new case is so delicate for the European body: the alleged scheme ran from 2009 to 2018, mostly outside UEFA's reach. Crucially, though, the Premier League's commission had access to evidence that UEFA never saw when building its original case, and the fresh findings of sham contracts, disguised funding worth more than £830 million and dishonest witnesses could give UEFA new angles to pursue. Sky Sports reports that UEFA intends to watch the appeal, which under the Premier League's speeded-up rules should conclude within 12 weeks, before determining whether the findings create separate consequences in European competition, from fines to exclusion from the Champions League. City, who lodged their appeal on October 2 and continue to deny wrongdoing, face the prospect of fighting the Premier League, the IFR, sponsor litigation and now potentially UEFA simultaneously.
It's worth noting that City are scheduled to host PSG in the Champions League on October 14, a match that will now carry an extra layer of tension with UEFA's leadership watching from the stands. On the pitch, meanwhile, Pep Guardiola's successors have kept the machine running: five wins from five have City top of the Premier League.
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Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
