Governing Bodies
REVEALED! NINE PREMIER LEAGUE CLUBS WROTE CAS TO INDICT MAN CITY!
No fewer than nine English Premiership clubs wanted Manchester City to be banned from the UEFA Champions League.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport have revealed their reasons for overturning Manchester City’s Champions League ban and reducing their fine.
City were initially banned from European competition for two years after being deemed to have committed ‘serious breaches’ of UEFA’s club licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations, and fined £27million.
But earlier this month, CAS announced that City’s ban had been overturned and they were fined just £9m instead.
In the reasons behind CAS’s decision in a massive 92-page document, it was revealed on Tuesday:
- That nine Premier League clubs tried to persuade CAS to prevent Manchester City from overturning their Champions League ban.
- Manchester City showed ‘a blatant disregard’ of Financial Fair Play principles but were not proven to have broken the rules
- City’s failure to co-operate’ with FFP investigation is ‘a severe breach’ that was behind CAS’ decision to hand the club a €10million fine (£9m)
- CAS dismissed the main charges brought against Manchester City ‘must be dismissed’ as they were not established to the comfortable satisfaction of the panel
- Some charges were also dismissed because they were time barred
- Manchester City failed to provide ‘complete and accurate’ copies of the leaked emails published in the media
- CAS described this as ‘particularly serious’ because the ‘production thereof would have preempted any arguments of MCFC as to the authenticity’
City said a total of 5.5million emails had been stolen from them by a hacker, who was an extortionist. But UEFA’s case was only based on six emails – which CAS ruled them to be admissible evidence.
The nine Premier League clubs that tried to persuade CAS to prevent City avoiding their European ban, included the rest of the Big Six, Burnley, Wolves, Newcastle and Leicester.
The 92-page document also revealed that City sent nine lawyers to their Champions League ban court case against UEFA.
After City’s ban was lifted on July 13, CAS said: ‘Most of the alleged breaches reported by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the CFCB (UEFA’S Club Financial Control Body) were either not established or time-barred.
‘As the charges with respect to any dishonest concealment of equity funding were clearly more significant violations than obstructing the CFCB’s investigations, it was not appropriate to impose a ban on participating in UEFA’s club competitions for MCFC’s failure to cooperate with the CFCB’s investigations alone.’
UEFA initially launched a probe against City following the publication of hacked emails in the German media.
On February 14, they announced that City had broken the rules by overstating sponsorship revenue between 2012 and 2016. Along with the ban, City were fined £26.9m.
Ahead of their appeal, the Etihad outfit said they had ‘irrefutable evidence’ to support their case.
The president of the Confédération of African Football, Dr. Patrice Motsepe, has announced five new CAF Vice Presidents. They are:
- CAF First Vice President: Mr Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco)
- CAF Second Vice President: Mr Kurt Okraku (Ghana)
- CAF Third Vice President: Mr Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
- CAF Fourth Vice President: Ms Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (Democratic Republic of Congo)
- CAF Fifth Vice President: Mr Feizal Sidat (Mozambique)
In addition, the CAF President has co-opted Yacine Idriss Diallo, President of Fédération Ivoirienne de football, into the CAF Executive Committee.
The CAF Executive Committee also approved the names to fill vacant positions on several CAF Committees.
Organising Committee for the African Nations Championship (CHAN)
- President: Pierre-Alain Mounguengui (Gabon)
CAF Technical and Development Committee
- President: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- Vice President: Malouche Belhassen (Tunisia)
CAF Medical Committee:
- President: Dr. Mohammed Bouya (Mauritania)
- Vice President: Dr. Thulani Ngwenya (South Africa)
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Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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