The Ban and the Investigation
Manchester City, the reigning champions of the Premier League, have just been handed a two-year ban from competing in any UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) competition. These competitions include the Champions League and the Europa League; which are considered the two biggest sport tournaments in Europe.
Including a fine of 30-million euros, this ban was handed to the English soccer team after various breaches of UEFA’s club licensing and financial fair play rules.
The decision to ban the club was made after a series of investigations into Manchester City’s sponsorship deals. The investigations started soon after a German paper, Der Spiegal, leaked documents about Manchester City inflating the value of sponsorship deals in November 2018. Although they previously denied involvement , Manchester City said they weren’t surprised with the decision to ban them.
Owner and Current Season
Manchester City was bought by United Arab Emirate native, Sheikh Mansour, in 2008. Since then, the club has been involved in one other breach of UEFA’s financial fair play rules in 2014. In this case, Manchester City was fined 49-million euros for the breach.
This announcement will impact Manchester’s City’s players’ and fans’ hopes to win the Champions League. Although, this ban will not take effect until the 2020/21 season, and it will last until the 2022/23 season. So, the English soccer team will still be allowed to play in this year’s competition.
Manchester City are currently scheduled to play Real Madrid in the Round of 16 on Wednesday, February 26th.
