Aleksander Ceferin maintains that UEFA was right to ban Manchester City for two years from the Champions League in 2020.
City’s ban took place in February 2020, which was eventually overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which the UEFA president decided to address four years later for the first time during an interview with The Telegraph.
At the time, Pep Guardiola’s men were charged by UEFA after it was alleged by UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) that their owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group had disguised their own funding into the club as independent sponsorship.
Aleksander Ceferin maintains UEFA were right about Champions League ban on Manchester City in 2020
In addition, due to City’s failure to cooperate with the CFCB, they were asked to pay a fine of €30 million (£25.6 million, as of today), which was eventually reduced to €10 million (£8.5 million, as of today).
However, the Sky Blues emerged triumphant in their case, with their ban from the Champions League also overturned as a majority of their charges were either not established or deemed as time-barred.
But to this day, Aleksander Ceferin firmly believes UEFA made the right decision to ban Manchester City from the Champions League in 2020.
“We know we were right. We wouldn’t decide if we didn’t think we were right”, he told The Telegraph.
Ceferin continued, “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.”
After UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin had his say on the case involving Manchester City in 2020, he declined to give an opinion on his thoughts on their alleged 115 financial breaches, which the Premier League charged them in 2022.
“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.”
“I really don’t want to criticise or something like that. It wouldn’t be fair.”
Ultimately, while UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin is entitled to his opinion, all one can go by is the facts of the matter which show that Manchester City won their case as their two-year Champions League ban was overturned, fair and square.
