Premier League clubs appeal against Manchester City's appeal to feature in the Champions League.

Eight of the Premier League’s top ten clubs have joined forces to collectively launch an application to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to ensure Manchester City are unable to play in the Champions League while their appeal is ongoing.  

The Citizens were banned from the UCL for the next two seasons after they were found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play regulations. The sanction against City also includes a €30m fine, after they were deemed to have misled the UEFA. 

However, City lodged an appeal against their ban, while it was also said the in February the club could apply to have their ban frozen while their appeal to CAS is being heard. 

However, it was explained that the ban would come in effect as late as the 2021/22 season because of the shortage of time the CAS are struggling to give the appeal a thought. The Daily Mail have recently reported that eight of the top ten clubs have submitted a joint application to stop the Citizens from being able to play Champions League football while their appeal is dealt with properly. 

Apart from Manchester City themselves, Sheffield United have also not agreed with this decision and therefore have pulled out of it. Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal all have separately written to the same law firm, which then sent a joint application on behalf of these clubs to the governing body.  

City, now have an option to request that their punishment is ‘stayed’ while their appeal is being heard, the clubs who sent the application will ‘strongly object.’ However, no such request has been made by City as of yet. A source also explained to the Daily Mail the group’s stance on the situation, insisting that enough has happened. 

The source said, “The feeling is that enough is enough. For too long, City have been able to get away with breaching the rules at the expense of at least one other club that has been unable to get into the Champions League.” 
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