Manchester City's two year ban for breaching UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday morning.
In February City were handed down a two year ban from the Champions League and Europa League by football's European governing body.
UEFA claimed that City had 'seriously misled' them and broken FFP by falsely inflating inflated their sponsorship revenues, accusations that first came about in the leaked emails featured in German magazine Der Spiegel in 2018.
The decision means that the club can continue playing in Europe's competitions but they have still been handed a €10 million fine.
The ruling from CAS denied there had been any disguising of funding, saying, "Manchester City did not disguise equity funding as sponsorship contributions but did fail to cooperate with the UEFA authorities. CAS decision: Exclusion from participation in UEFA club competitions lifted; fine maintained but reduced to €10 million"
In a statement the club said, "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."
Many people have questioned whether or not FFP will be able to continue after City overturned their ban without too much recourse on the pitch, and a fine which their owners can easily pay as the only punishment.
City are still in this season's Champions League, and lead Real Madrid after the first leg of their last 16 tie, but the original ban had meant they wouldn't be in the competition next season, even if they'd won it for the first time this season.
The knock on effect would have been fifth place in the Premier League qualifying for Europe's elite club competition, which is no longer the case. That means the battle for the top four has been turned up a notch, especially after both Chelsea and Leicester City lost at the weekend.
Frank Lampard's team are currently on 60 points with the Foxes one point behind them in fourth, however Manchester United are just a point further back and play Southampton in their game in hand on Monday.
If the ban had been upheld there would have been questions about the future of Pep Guardiola as well as some of the high profile players, like Kevin de Bruyne, but the news today means that the club can continue working on their future.
Winning the Champions League for the first time has clearly been one of their top priorities in recent years, and is certainly to priority after missing out on the league this season, after several failures.
Can City win the Champions League this season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
source https://www.sportbible.com/football/foul-play-manchester-city-learn-champions-league-fate-20200713
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