Manchester City Banned From Champions League For Two Seasons by UEFA

Last year, media reports revealed that the English football club Manchester City was facing expulsion from the Champions League over violating financial control regulations.

Manchester City has been banned from Champions League for two seasons, a statement by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) says. 

In addition to that, the club will be fined 30 million euros.  

Uefa announce Man City banned from next two seasons of the Champions League and fined 30 million euros pic.twitter.com/yUku5PMGZ4

— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) February 14, 2020

The statement says that Manchester City "committed serious breaches" of UEFA financial rules. ​

The club said it will appeal the UEFA verdict to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Previously, Manchester City repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying that it will respond to any attempt by UEFA to punish the club or ban it from the Champions League. 

A scandal broke out last year following the leak of some of the club's internal documents obtained by a Portuguese computer hacker and submitted to several European news media outlets, including Der Spiegel. According to the leaked documents, Manchester City had misrepresented the source of some of its sponsorship income, violating UEFA's cost control rules.