Pep Guardiola Tells UEFA President Ceferin To “Respect The Procedure” Due To Manchester City's Alleged Financial Fair Play Breaches

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Adesina David

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May 14, 2023
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Pep Guardiola has expressed that Alexsander Ceferin should “respect the procedure” following the football administrator's comment over Manchester City's alleged Financial Fair Play breaches.

Uefa president Ceferin expressed in an interview with The Telegraph that the European football governing body “were right” to hand the Cityzens a two-year European football ban in 2020.


The ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport following an appeal lodged by Manchester City.

The treble - Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League winners are also battling claims made by the Premier League that the English side have broken financial fair play rules.

Speaking in response to the statement made by Aleksander Ceferin, City boss Guardiola said:

“As a lawyer that he is and president of Uefa, he should wait and after do whatever he wants.”

“He has to respect it and he has to wait. He has a lot of jobs to do at Uefa. A lawyer should respect the procedure and understand we have a right to defend ourselves.”

Manchester City were charged with 115 breaches of Premier League regulations in February 2023.

Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive has expressed that a date has been set for the hearing but, speaking to MPs earlier in January 2024, the Englishman could not ascertain when the hearing will be held.

Manchester City have enjoyed immense successes in the past decade, with many of their titles said to be aided by their financial advantages.

If found guilty of the charges leveled against them, Manchester City will reportedly face punishments such as being demoted to the lower leagues in England or stripped of the league titles won in those years.

For UEFA, an outright ban from European competitions could be on the cards for the Manchester-based club amongst other punishments that could be handed over to the team.

Anyway, Manchester City feel they aren't guilty of the allegations heaped against them as such, Pep Guardiola wants Aleksander Ceferin to allow them to prove their innocence.

The Cityzens have been accused of padding budgets, inflating figures made from sponsorships, or falsifying figures in an attempt to balance the books.

Everyone interested in the case will have to keep their fingers crossed to see how it plays out for the parties involved.

Meanwhile, Manchester City return to action on January 26, 2024, facing Tottenham Hotspur in a 4th round FA Cup encounter.

The Cityzens are the defending champions of the competition, having defeated rivals Manchester United 2-1 to win the trophy in June 2023.

Spurs and Manchester City have always battled fiercely in recent seasons, with Tottenham Hotspur having the upper hand in 3 out of their last 5 meetings.

Pep Guardiola's side have won just 1 match in their last 5 games, with the other game ending in a draw.

The encounter will be played at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium and the last time the Manchester-based club defeated Spurs at a ground serving as their home turf was on October 29, 2018.

Manchester City ran out 1-0 winners courtesy of a Riyad Mahrez's goal, with the clash played at Wembley Stadium.

That definitely indicates that the FA Cup champions have not defeated the Lillywhites at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium and as such, it is difficult to tell where the pendulum would swing in this game.