Manchester City have lodged an official appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] following their two-year ban from all European competitions.
The ban is set to start from the beginning of next season after the club breached UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations. They were also fined £30 million for the offence.
Now, the club have officially launched an appeal against the decision with the Manchester Evening News reporting that it has been received by CAS.
A spokesperson for CAS released a statement confirming that Man City had indeed appealed the decision.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has registered an appeal filed by Manchester City football club against the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
“The appeal is directed against the decision of the Adjudicatory Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) dated 14 February 2020 in which Manchester City was deemed to have contravened UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations and sanctioned with exclusion from the next two seasons of UEFA club competitions for which the club would qualify and ordered to pay a fine of EUR 30 million.
“Generally speaking, CAS appeal arbitration procedures involve an exchange of written submissions between the parties while a Panel of CAS arbitrators is being convened. Once the Panel has been formally constituted it issues procedural directions, including, inter alia, with respect to the holding of a hearing. Following the hearing, the Panel deliberates and then issues its decision in the form of an Arbitral Award.
“It is not possible to indicate at this time when a final award in this matter will be issued.”
After UEFA’s decision to ban City from European competitions for two years and hit them with the fine, the club responded with a statement that confirmed their intention to lodge an immediate appeal.
“Simply put, this is a case initiated by UEFA, prosecuted by UEFA and judged by UEFA. With this prejudicial process now over, the club will pursue an impartial judgment as quickly as possible and will, therefore, in the first instance, commence proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the earliest opportunity.”