Man City: La Liga president Javier Tebas says CAS ‘not up to standard’ after Uefa ban appeal decision
The president of La Liga has hit out at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) after they overturned Manchester City’s two-year European ban, and claimed that the institution is “not up to standard”.
The Premier League club won its appeal against the two-year ban handed out by Uefa earlier this year that would have prevented the, from competing in any European competition for the next two seasons, including the 2020/21 Champions League that it has already qualified for by virtue of securing a second-place finish in the Premier League.
Cas announced the decision on Monday morning after a three-day virtual hearing in June, which saw both Uefa and Manchester City present their case to an independent panel.
The decision to overturn City’s ban was made due to “most of the alleged breaches reported by the (Uefa) Adjudicatory Chamber of the CFCB (Club Financial Control Body) were either not established or time-barred”, as Uefa’s own regulations only allow a five-year window for prosecution of Financial Fair Play restrictions.
City were still fined €10m (£8.9m) for failing to cooperate with Uefa as part of the investigation, which has been reduced from an initial €30m, and it’s understood that the club took the stance to not cooperate with investigators because the alleged evidence of a regulation breach was obtained through the Football Leaks hacks in 2018.
The announcement was greeted with relief at the Etihad Stadium, but it did not go down well with La Liga president tebas, who has been a long-term supporter of Uefa’s FFP regulations and critical of clubs who appear to fall foul of them.
The 57-year-old former lawyer claimed that the ruling shows Cas is no longer fit to serve its role in facilitating the settlement of football-related disputes, and called on the sport to look at other avenues for resolving matters such as breaches of FFP rules.
“We have to reassess whether the Cas is the appropriate body to which to appeal institutional decisions in football,” Tebas said on Monday.
“Switzerland is a country with a great history of arbitration, the Cas is not up to standard.”
The Independent has contacted Cas for comment.
