Manchester City FC vs UEFA: The most important case of the millennium!

The most important case of the millennium is undoubtedly “CAS 2020/A/6785 - Manchester City FC v. UEFA”. At least if you’re a Man City fan, maybe even a season ticket holder, like me! This post is written in that capacity, so apologies in advance for any bias J To be clear, it represents my views as a Man City fan. It does not represent the views of my employer and has not been reviewed or endorsed by my employer.

By way of a very brief background, on 5 November 2018 German magazine Der Spiegel published a series of leaked emails purporting to show Man City officials attempting to mislead UEFA in order to escape UEFA’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations. The ensuing investigation culminated in UEFA announcing on 14 February 2020 that it had banned Man City from European competitions for two seasons for serious breaches of the FFP regulations.

Unsurprisingly, Man City immediately announced they would appeal the ban, releasing a statement (https://www.mancity.com/news/club-news/club-news/2020/february/manchester-city-club-statement) that:

“Manchester City is disappointed but not surprised by today’s announcement by the UEFA Adjudicatory Chamber.

 The Club has always anticipated the ultimate need to seek out an independent body and process to impartially consider the comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence in support of its position. In December 2018, the UEFA Chief Investigator publicly previewed the outcome and sanction he intended to be delivered to Manchester City, before any investigation had even begun.

 The subsequent flawed and consistently leaked UEFA process he oversaw has meant that there was little doubt in the result that he would deliver. The Club has formally complained to the UEFA Disciplinary body, a complaint which was validated by a CAS ruling. 

 Simply put, this is a case initiated by UEFA, prosecuted by UEFA and judged by UEFA. With this prejudicial process now over, the Club will pursue an impartial judgment as quickly as possible and will therefore, in the first instance, commence proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the earliest opportunity.” -

The appeal is set down for a 3 day hearing in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, commencing on 8 June 2020.

And Man City is appealing with gusto! They have instructed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, a Magic Circle law firm renowned for winning major arbitration and competition law cases. This includes a huge win for a client just last week in an appeal against EU merger prohibitions in the General Court of the European Union, only the second of its kind in 18 years and the legal equivalent of beating Real Madrid at the Bernabéu.

Man City have also retained Lord David Pannick QC as lead advocate on a reported fee of ￡20,000 a day. Pannick, of course, is famous for winning two cases that (temporarily) blocked Brexit, and will be looking to continue his tradition of securing court room victories that keep his clients in Europe.

And just as Man City play beautiful football, Pannick delivers beautiful advocacy. He has been described as one of the leading advocates of his generation, using a calm tone, slow pace and simple language to deliver complex arguments in a “remorselessly logical” way (credit to Jamie Susskind for this description - https://twitter.com/jamiesusskind/status/1173913538995396608).

In other words, Pannick does in court what David Silva does on the field – make the incredibly complicated look magically simple!

As a City fan, I am glad we have secured some of the best legal talent available because a lot is at stake here. There is a genuine fear that an unsuccessful appeal may prompt a wave of City stars to leave, including those in their prime such as Aymeric Laporte and Kevin De Bruyne. We are all incredibly nervous, and all we can do now is hope that the Freshfields/Pannick combination can deliver victory in the appeal in the same way the Kompany/Aguero combination delivered four Premier League titles.

Although there is little publicly available information about Man City’s submissions, it looks like the focus will be on the flaws in UEFA’s investigation process. It seems we will argue that UEFA failed to consider all appropriate evidence and had already decided on an outcome before the investigation had taken place.

However, and this is pure speculation as there is minimal detail about Man City’s arguments, I would not rule out an all-out challenge to the FFP regulations as part of this appeal process if it goes beyond the Court of Arbitration for Sport. I think it would be open to Man City to argue that the FFP regulations amount to an unreasonable restraint of trade, and do not serve to protect the legitimate interests of UEFA or its members. Specifically, there may be an argument that the regulations penalise owners such as the Abu Dhabi United Group (Man City’s owners) who donate money to their clubs without any expectation it will be paid back, while seemingly rewarding owners such as those of our friends in Salford for saddling their club with debt. If that legal counter attack was successful, it would demolish UEFA’s FFP regime like Leroy Sane’s winner past Alisson off a perfectly executed Man City counter attack demolished Liverpool’s title hopes last season.

So yes, this hearing could get exciting! And in an ideal world, it would be live streamed, particularly in the current environment where there is no live sport to entertain us. But alas, this is not to be. So I will do my best to scan the legal universe for any snippets of information about the proceeding, and provide as many updates as I can to my fellow Man City fans on LinkedIn and beyond until we get a decision that hopefully overturns this ban. These updates will be designed so they can be easily followed by City fans (and others) without a legal background.

Consider this the first instalment.

We fight ‘til the end, we fight ‘til the end, we are Man City, we fight ‘til the end!