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·16 January 2024

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Aleksander Ceferin has insisted that UEFA disciplinary chiefs were in the right to throw Manchester City out of the Champions League for breaching its Financial Fair Play regulations.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) would later overturn the two-year European ban after ruling some of the evidence against them was timed barred – because payments in question were made more than five years before the UEFA's club financial control body (CFCB) case was brought in May 2019 – and that other accusations were unproven. The fine of €30m (£25.6m) was also reduced to €10m (£8.5m), with City still punished for not cooperating with the UEFA authorities.

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Speaking to Telegraph Sport, and refused to comment on the 115 breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) charges set by the Premier League toward City in February 2023. He said:

“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.”

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Manchester City have been hit with 115 charges of Financial Fair Play breaches. Here is a full breakdown and a timeline of events.

Ceferin understands criticism of Premier League case vs Man City

Everton and Nottingham Forest FFP cases resolved much faster

Interestingly enough, UEFA's statute of limitations limited the European case to five years. However, the Premier League are investigating Man City over a 14-season period, starting in 2009-10. That timescale has been extended due to, in part, the club's alleged lack of cooperation and there is no limitation on how long it must take before accusations must result in punishment.

Such is the scale of the investigation, and the complexity of the charges, the case – which was referred to an independent commission last February – remains unresolved. The lengthy process of it all has drawn criticism of late, especially with FFP issues relating to Everton and Nottingham Forest resolved in a much shorter time frame. On this matter, Ceferin said he can, “of course”, understand fan frustration, before adding:

“They want to know what’s going on and what are the consequences but I don’t want to enter into this concrete process because I don’t know what the Premier League is dealing with. I really don’t want to criticise, or something like that. It wouldn’t be fair.”

Ceferin wants to stamp down on multi-club ownership

Man City and Girona, of City Football Group, could both be in Champions League soon

UEFA could be set to clash with Man City in the near future once more. This time, though, it will relate to their multi-club ownership. Indeed, Ceferin explained that the issue had been brought up in a meeting held last week.

Should two or more clubs belonging to the same ownership group qualify for the same UEFA competition, it's not hard to see how the integrity of the competition could be drawn into question. For instance, City will almost certainly play in the Champions League next season and La Liga leaders Girona are also looking likely to feature in the competition next term as well.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s purchase of 25 per cent of Manchester United will also come under scrutiny, should INEOS' other club, Nice, also qualify for the same European competition. English clubs such as Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion had to be cleared to play in Europe this season but were first ordered to cut some of their ties with sister clubs, with bans on inter-group transfers also imposed, but Ceferin wants clearer rules on the matter.

The UEFA chief said:

"You know football. Big English club can lose 3-0 to a small Portuguese club, if you want, because they have a bad day. Imagine that it’s the same ownership? [You would] say, ‘Look, your competition is fixed’, and then you start losing everything. “This is my biggest problem where I don’t have a solution. We could always say, ‘Okay, you can do it under these and these and these conditions’. But full control of two or more is a no-go. That’s, for now, my opinion. We didn’t come to a concrete solution.”

While Man City avoided major punishment when accused of FFP charges by EUFA, it remains to be seen what will come of the Premier League charges. And should Ceferin and co bring up stricter punishments on multi-club ownership, they could clash with EUFA in court once again. For all their success on the pitch, the Cityzens have certainly had plenty of issues off it over the past decade.