Soccer’s richest and most watched club competition challenged its defending champion on Monday with more than 100 charges of alleged financial wrongdoing and failures to cooperate with an investigation that took more than four years.
Dozens of charges allege breaches of the league’s financial monitoring rules dating from 2009, or the first full season Man City was owned by the ruling family of
That leaked evidence led
Man City seems more at risk from the English case, which does not involve a statute of limitations on evidence that was a problem for
Here's a closer look at the case:
WHAT ARE THE FINANCIAL RULES?
Known as Financial Fair Play, the regulations are aimed at preventing clubs from spending more than they earn. FFP was established in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, which deepened worries in European soccer that clubs could go out of business if the cost of player transfers and wages kept rising.
Critics believed they would favor storied clubs with established global appeal, such as Bayern Munich,
At the same time, historically underachieving Manchester City was bought in
The first round of FFP judgments in 2014 saw the heaviest penalties for Man City and Paris Saint-Germain — each lost
Both were suspected of booking inflated revenue in their accounts through sponsor deals at above market rates with companies from
“If clubs use unrealistic deals as a way to get around Financial Fair Play,”
WHAT WAS THE LEAKED EVIDENCE?
In
Yet skepticism remained about the club's commercial results.
German magazine Der Spiegel then published the “Football Leaks” series of articles based on the club's internal documents and communications.
They suggested Man City had broken FFP rules in financial relationships with "related-party" sponsors from
Man City did not deny the documents were authentic but said they were illegally obtained by a Portuguese man,
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE UEFA CASE?
After the Football Leaks publication, UEFA’s club investigators revisited their case and asked the judging chamber to ban Man City from European competitions.
In
Three CAS judges overturned the ban in
Allowed to play in the next
WHAT IS THE PREMIER LEAGUE CASE?
The English case against Man City continued separately from the
A hearing will be held in secret, with no timetable yet for a verdict. Any subsequent legal challenge should go to the Premier League’s Appeal Board.
Man City said it was surprised by the charges and “we look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.”
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