Manchester city could miss 2019/20 Champions League over FFP

Manchester City might miss out of the UEFA Champions League for next season if found guilty of the alleged Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches.

In November, an independent investigation by European football’s governing body into the Premier League champions’ behaviour was recently blown open after information was made public by the Football Leaks hack and published in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Der Spiegel alleged that Sheikh Mansour’s City regime of topping up multi-million pound sponsorship deals with Abu Dhabi companies, using their owner’s fortune, in order to meet UEFA’s FFP stipulations.

Further allegations claimed City were cut a favourable FFP settlement when they were punished for overspending by UEFA in 2014.

However, the Premier League outfit dismissed the stories and while stating that an “attempt to damage the club’s reputation is organised and clear”.

The Uefa’s executive committee have since looked into the allegations.

The president of the committee, Aleksander Ceferin, described the investigation as “a concrete case” and pledged an outcome “very soon”.

“We are assessing the situation,” Ceferin told reporters in Dublin. “We have an independent body working on it. Very soon you will have an answer on what will happen in this concrete case.”

Uefa officials believe the integrity of one of the organisation’s key rules is under threat and that sporting sanctions are the only appropriate response should City be found to have flouted them.