Man City Could Play UCL Next Season Even If Relegated — SkimNews
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- An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of all charges for inflating sponsorship revenue by £830m through sham contracts and hiding an additional £90m in expenses, saying City would have failed profit and sustainability rules in all nine seasons from 2009-10 to 2017-18 without the inflation
- Manchester City continues to deny wrongdoing, labeling the outcome a "Premier League conspiracy," and lodged an appeal against the verdict last week; the sanctioning hearing to determine punishment has not yet been scheduled
- Senior figures in English and European football are concerned City could still play in next season's Champions League if they win it, as titleholder qualification would override their domestic status and there is no automatic mechanism to remove them from a European competition they enter on sporting merit
- The UEFA licensing system offers no clear grounds to deny City a licence because licences are issued by the FA (delegated to the Premier League) based on current financial performance, and a club fulfilling all minimum criteria cannot be refused
- UEFA may open a disciplinary case once the Premier League process concludes, but cannot act while it plays out, and City already overturned a two-year European ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 after their offences were ruled "time-barred"
- New Premier League regulations added in summer set time frames requiring a sanction judgment no later than January, but it is unconfirmed whether these apply to City's case, meaning the appeal process may not finish by season's end
- City could also qualify for European football through domestic cups — they face Brighton in the FA Cup fourth round on 28 October — with the Carabao Cup offering a Conference League route
Why it matters: City could face severe domestic sanctions including points deductions, large fines, and transfer embargoes yet still collect Champions League revenue and prestige if they win the competition, because the licensing system and UEFA's parallel jurisdiction have no mechanism to bar a titleholder-qualifying club. The 2020 CAS precedent — where City successfully argued their offences were time-barred under UEFA's rules — means even a successful UEFA disciplinary case may not stop them from playing.
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