The Uefa president said that Uefa disciplinary chiefs were “right” to expel Manchester City from the Champions League for breaching financial fair play rules.
Aleksander Čeferin, in his first public comments on the saga since the Premier League revealed that a date had been set to deal with 115 charges against the triple-round winners under its own rules, also said he understood the growing concern about how long the case had dragged on.
Speaking exclusively to Telegraph Sport, Čeferin refused to answer the question of whether City, who deny any wrongdoing, should be stripped of their titles if found guilty by an independent panel.
Asked whether such a verdict would uphold the Uefa club financial watchdog’s verdict four years ago and the defence of his case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), he replied: ‘We know we were right. If we didn’t think we were right, we wouldn’t have made the decision.”
Čeferin stressed that he respected the decision of Cas, which overturned City’s two-year European ban after ruling that some of the evidence against them was time-barred and that other allegations were unproven, while fining them €10 million (£8.6 million) for failing to co-operate with investigators.
“As a 25-year trial lawyer, I know that sometimes you win a case you are sure you will lose,” Cheferin added. “And sometimes you lose a case you are sure you will lose … In a real democracy, you simply have to respect the decision of the court.
“I don’t want to talk about the case in England. But I believe that the decision of our independent body was the right one. I was not involved in that decision.”
City had already paid Uefa €20m to settle the FFP case in 2014, when further evidence of irregularities emerged that led to a new investigation in 2019.
The Premier League launched its own investigation into the same allegations that same year – unencumbered by any time limit – and its pursuit of City is now in its fifth year.
There has been criticism at the expense of the time taken, which has only increased since Everton and Nottingham Forest were referred to an independent commission after admitting breaching the league’s rules on profit and sustainability.
Čeferin said he “of course” understood the fans’ frustration, adding: “They want to know what is going on and what the consequences are, but I don’t want to go into that specific process because I don’t know what the Premier League is dealing with. I really don’t want to criticise or anything like that. That would not be fair.”
City declined to comment, but had previously hailed the Cas verdict as a “vindication of the club’s position” and expressed surprise at the Premier League’s subsequent accusations, against which they said they had “an extensive body of irrefutable evidence”.
In addition to twice breaching FFP rules, City may soon have to comply with new Uefa regulations on multiple club ownership.
Čeferin has said that he wants the restrictions placed on teams under these regulations to be clearer, which could have a major impact on City Football Group’s stake in Girona, the Spanish La Liga leader.
Čeferin revealed that a meeting on the issue took place last week and said he wanted the rules to clearly define what constitutes a “decisive influence” on more than one club.
Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion were among a number of teams banned from playing in Europe this season after they were ordered to sever some ties with sister clubs and inter-club transfers were also banned.
Čeferin said the “biggest problem” with multi-club ownership – CFG owns just under 50 per cent of Girona – is “perception”.
“We know football. A big English club can lose 3-0 against a small Portuguese club if you like because it is having a bad day.
“Imagine if it’s the same owner? You [would] say, ‘Look, your rival is fixed’, and then you start losing everything.
“That’s my biggest problem and I don’t have a solution for it. You could always say, ‘Okay, you can do it under these and these and these conditions’. But you can’t have total control over two or more.
“That is my opinion for now. We have not come to a concrete solution.”