Pep Guardiola’s side were to miss out on European football due to the sanctions, and thus, they were set to miss out on Champions League football for two years, despite their position on the table.
However, after Manchester City took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS have now ruled in favour of Manchester City.
City will face no ban punishment for violating Financial Fair Play Rules. Rather, they will now be able to play in the top European competition next season, as long as they pay a €10m fine for their Financial-Fairplay breaking violations.
Following confirmation that the decision has been overturned, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola posed for a selfie with Manuel Estiarte, a member of his coaching staff, and City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain to celebrate the judgment.
City boss Pep Guardiola, was confident the ban would be overturned as he insisted that his side deserves to play in the Champions League. “Today we achieved one incredible challenge, which is qualification for the Champions League mathematically,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.
“That is the challenge that is the minimum requirement for this club. And these players have done it for the last six or seven years.
“We deserve to be there because we won it on the pitch. Hopefully on Monday UEFA can allow us to play like this team and these players deserve to.”
Meanwhile, The picture, which was posted on Manuel Estiarte’s Instagram account, was subsequently deleted.
