After nearly a year-long investigation into Manchester City’s financial shenanigans, UEFA have announced a two-year ban from the Champions League, starting next season, and a €30 fine for the state-sponsored entity.
City’s shady finances and self-sponsorship deals were a frequent topic of conversation and jokes — especially as Chelsea went to great lengths to comply with FFP — but we had assumed all along that UEFA were never really going to enforce their own FFP rules, nor were they going to come down with proper punishments for the offenders — certainly not the big teams: they may have banned teams from, say, Turkey before, but surely not a truly wealthy team like Manchester City!
Obviously, Manchester City will be expected to appeal this decision, and it may even get reduced as a result either by UEFA or by CAS eventually, but just the fact that UEFA have smacked City with a strong backhand brings a smile to our FFP-loving faces.
