Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola is adamant the club will participate in the Champions League or Europa League next season ahead of CAS verdict on Monday as United and Chelsea nervously wait.
UEFA found City to have committed “serious breaches” of the governing body’s Financial Fair Play rules between 2012 and 2016 following an investigation launched after Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto leaked documents including internal emails from the club to German media.
In February, UEFA banned Manchester City from European football for two years. As a result, City appealed against the punishment which came with a £27m fine to Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS), and a three-day hearing was heard in Switzerland over video conference in May.
On Friday, CAS confirmed City will learn of their European fate on Monday.
Moreover, the result will be significant. Should the ban be upheld, City will have to persuade their star players, particularly, De Bruyne to remain at Etihad despite facing two years without European football. City will also miss out on the vast revenues that the Champions League brings.
Such a verdict would have the knock-on effect that City’s place in next season’s competition will go to the club which finishes in fifth place in the Premier League.
Contrary, speaking of their fate, Guardiola expects the decision to be overturned.
He said, “I’m so confident because I saw the arguments of the club that next season we will be the Champions League”.
Man United currently occupy the fifth place, one point adrift of Leicester City and two behind Chelsea in third.
Should City’s appeal be successful, it will be seen as a landmark victory and serious questions of UEFA’s FFP system will be asked. A third option that the length of the ban is cut is also a possibility.