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City may take fight to international courts

Manchester City may take its fight with Uefa to state and international courts if its appeal to the Court for Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne fails. One of the leaked e-mails provided to the Uefa adjudication body said that rather than settle the club's 2014 financial fair play case, club chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak informed the then Uefa general secretary that he would rather spend £30m on the 50 best lawyers in the world to sue them for the next ten years.

City was represented at CAS's October hearing by eight lawyers. In opposition, Uefa was represented by just two lawyers. City argues 'that this is a case initiated by Uefa, presented by Uefa, and judged by Uefa.'

An attempt to extend the legal challenge beyond CAS would require City to overturn a 2012 statement from the EU's competition commissioner supporting FFP. Last year a memorandum of understanding was agreed between Uefa and the European Club Association (of which City is a member) outlawing challenges in national or international courts.

In his new book The Price of £ootball Kieran Maguire notes: 'The word "fair" is a complete misnomer if the intention of those who make the rules is to keep competition for major European trophies between the very few and prevent newly monied clubs from rising to challenge the existing cartel.' Maguire also notes that Uefa is honest in stating that the purpose of FFP is not to create a level playing field between clubs, but to encourage clubs to build for success rather than seeking a 'quick fix'.

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