‘We’re right to ban Man City from Champions League’ – UEFA President Ceferin

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has said their decision to ban Manchester City from all European competitions for two years in 2020 was correct.

The ban was eventually overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, CAS.

In February 2020, UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body found City guilty of a breach of Financial Fair Play, FFP, rules.

The Premier League champions had been accused of falsely inflating sponsorship revenues between 2012 and 2016.

UEFA slammed a two-year ban and a €30 million fine on the club.

Advertisement

But in July 2020, CAS overturned the ban and reduced the fine to €10 million.

Ceferin insists UEFA were right to sanction City.

“We know we were right. We wouldn’t decide if we didn’t think we were right,” he told The Telegraph.

“As a trial lawyer for 25 years, I know that, sometimes, you win a case that you are sure you will lose.

And, sometimes, you lose a case when you’re sure… You just simply have to respect, in a serious democracy, the decision of the court.

“I don’t want to speak about the case in England. But I trust that the decision of our independent body was correct. I didn’t enter into this decision.”