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Manchester CityWins CAS Appeal, Escape Two-Year UEFA Ban
Manchester City Wins CAS Appeal, Escape Two-Year UEFA Ban
Manchester City on Monday escape the two-year UEFA ban imposed on them five months ago as CAS overturned their two-year ban from European club competitions.
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced the club was cleared of “disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions”.
It will be recalled that, in February this year, UEFA issued the ban after ruling City had committed “serious breaches” of Financial Fair Play regulations between 2012 and 2016.
Also, the citizenship’s fine has been cut from 30m euros (£26.9m) to 10m euros.
In delivering the ruling, CAS said City did “fail to cooperate with UEFA authorities” but overturned the decision by Uefa’s club financial control body (CFCB) to ban them.
City said the decision was “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,” City added.
CAS’ ruling means City, who is guaranteed to finish second in the Premier League this season, will play in the 2020-21 Champions League.
In this year’s competition, Pep Guardiola’s side faces Real Madrid in their last-16 second leg at Etihad Stadium on 7 August.
They lead 2-1 from the first leg in Madrid and will face Juventus or Lyon in the quarter-finals, which will be held in Lisbon, if they progress.
The CAS statement continued: “The award emphasized that most of the alleged breaches reported by the adjudicatory chamber of the CFCB were either not established or time-barred.
“As the charges with respect to any dishonest concealment of equity funding were clearly more significant violations than obstructing the CFCB’s investigations, it was not appropriate to impose a ban on participating in Uefa’s club competitions for Manchester City’s failure to co-operate with the CFCB’s investigations alone.”
On reducing the fine, Cas said that, while it considered “the importance of the co-operation of clubs in investigations conducted by the CFCB” and Manchester City’s “disregard of such principle and its obstruction of the investigations”, the Cas panel “considered it appropriate to reduce Uefa’s initial fine by two-thirds”.
It added: “The final award with reasons will be published on the Cas website in a few days.”
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NSC DG Olopade Meets NSC Directors, Calls for Scientific Approach to Sports Federation Activities
Joel Ajayi
The Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Bukola Olopade, has reiterated the new transformative vision of the Commission during his meeting with the Directors and Heads of Departments of the Commission.
The interactive sessions allowed senior officials to introduce themselves to the new DG, who emphasized the importance of strategic, standardized and scientific approach to the Commission’s operations, including the conduct of Sports Federation Elections.
In his remarks, Olopade stressed the need for reforms that would attract top administrators to vie for leadership roles within Nigeria’s Sports Federations.
“There is no way we can’t be looking at having top industry CEOs on board in our Sports Federations,” he stated.
The DG also highlighted the Commission’s mandate to elevate the Corporate image of various Sports in Nigeria.
He reemphasized the NSC’s commitment to reviving key initiatives such as the National Sports Industry Policy and the 10-Year Football Master Plan.
“The Chairman and myself strongly believe we need to have a different approach to our Federation Elections,” he noted.
“This is why the emphasis of the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a balanced approach to both sports consumption and sports production.”
The meeting reflects the new direction of the NSC, with Olopade pledging to champion and support policies that will foster professionalism and sustainable development across Nigeria’s sports landscape.
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