Manchester City’s appeal against their ban from the Champions League is currently ‘frozen’ at the Court of Arbitration for Sport as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak.
City were banned from UEFA’s top club competition earlier this season as punishment for breaches of Financial Fair Play.
They appealed that decision with CAS back in February but, as AS report, that is now in limbo, with the court unable to deal with cases as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns across Europe.
Yesterday we covered a report that it wasn’t likely to make much difference as, regardless of when next year’s competition starts, a decision would have to be made on City’s involvement before they could do so.
However, AS now report that Manchester City could end up seeing the sanction suspended if a decision isn’t made by August 26th.
They explain that, because Manchester City appealed the decision, the ban is currently suspended until CAS can rule on the case.
However, they need to do so before August 26th as that is when UEFA need to know which teams will be competing in the Champions League next season.
If a decision hasn’t been made by then, ‘it is possible’ that City can ‘obtain an extension of the punishment’ and delay it.
The newspaper say that City chief executive Ferran Soriano was confident that the appeal would be resolved by the summer, but now he has ‘a better plan’.
He intends to ‘legally demand’ that the sanction not take effect until CAS have been able to make a decision, which could be delayed for as long as it takes for Europe to recover and win the ongoing battle against COVID-19.
