CAS rules in Man City's favour and the world of football reacts
Premier League club Manchester City's two-year UEFA ban from European soccer which was was overturned by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) on Monday.
Manchester City's two-year ban from European football has been overturned by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), the Lausanne based court said on Monday.
The decision means Pep Guardiola's team will compete in next season's Champions League.
CAS ruled that City did not breach Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules by disguising equity funding as sponsorship. The court also reduced a fine for failing to cooperate with UEFA to 10 million euros ($11.30 million) from 30 million euros.
Related stories
The CAS ruling however has not been unanimously well received in many quarters. Whilst Manchester City thanked CAS panel members for their diligence in reaching the conclusion, many feared that the ruling is a setback for UEFA's FFP (Financial Fair Play) policy and will grant richer clubs the ability to circumnavigate UEFA regulations.
Here's a small selection of reactions from former players, pundits, journalists and even KFC to the CAS ruling:
Hard to see how UEFA’s FFP rules can survive this. In fact, can UEFA survive the ramifications?
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) July 13, 2020
La Liga not happy with City verdict. Tebas: “We have to reassess whether the CAS is the appropriate body to which to appeal institutional decisions in football. Switzerland is a country with a great history of arbitration, the CAS is not up to standard.”
— Tom Allnutt (@TomAllnuttAFP) July 13, 2020
Is it time for UEFA to go back to the drawing board with Financial Fair Play rules? @SkyKaveh looks at the details of Manchester City's overturned UEFA ban
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) July 13, 2020
To put into context the €10m fine handed down to Manchester City, that equates to 666,666 (spooky) 10pc Bargain Buckets or 3 large pizzas from Domino's.
— KFC UK (@KFC_UKI) July 13, 2020