Many cities are fighting against what they see as the illegal European Cup suspension. The CEO calls the accusations untrue.
After the two-year suspension of the European Cup by the European Football Union (UEFA), the English champion Manchester City has again denied having received illegal financial aid from Arab investors.
“These accusations are simply not true. The owner did not put any money into the club that was not correctly accounted for,” said City managing director Ferran Soriano on the club’s own website.
UEFA’s independent financial control body CFCB ruled out City for all European Cup competitions for the next two seasons last Friday. The club was also sentenced to a fine of 30 million euros.
The club, which is largely owned by the ruling family of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, has overstated sponsorship income on its balance sheet for the period 2012-2016, the CFCB said. Furthermore, City had not cooperated sufficiently during the investigations.
City managing director: “Accusations not true
But Soriano also rejected these accusations. “We have cooperated in this trial. We have provided a long list of documents that we believe prove that the allegations are not true,” he said. Instead, the CFCB had preferred to focus on “stolen e-mails”. In general, there was no “fair trial”, he said, it was “less about justice and more about politics”.
The club around the German internationals Ilkay Gündogan and Leroy Sane had already announced that they would go before the International Court of Justice for Sport (CAS). “We hope for a quick solution, of course in a fair trial. My hope is that it will be decided by the summer,” said Soriano.