Soccer-Man City CEO tells EFC board club will clear their name

By Julien Pretot

COPENHAGEN, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano said that the club would do everything to clear their name when addressing the European Football Clubs board on Monday, adding the procedure would take years before reaching an end, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters.

Soriano, who sits on EFC’s board, also declined to comment to reporters on City being found guilty of 114 of 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, according to media reports confirmed to Reuters by a source familiar with the situation.

City are expected to appeal and have consistently denied wrongdoing.

The case will provide one backdrop to the General Assembly, which brings together some 500 of the 850 members of the EFC in Copenhagen for Tuesday’s meeting and comes at a time when governance questions are also dominating debate at the top of the world game.

EFC chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is due to address delegates, with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin also attending. FIFA President Gianni Infantino was invited but is very unlikely to be present with the FIFA delegation expected to be represented by Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom.

At global level, Infantino has proposed an independent external review of FIFA’s governance and decision-making after the collapse of a plan to bring private investment into its commercial rights business, a proposal that triggered resistance from several confederations and national associations.

The debate has raised broader questions about how major decisions are taken, how much power rests with FIFA’s leadership and what role clubs, leagues, confederations and national associations should have in shaping the game.

The City case adds a domestic dimension to the same debate, focusing attention on financial regulation, enforcement and the relationship between powerful clubs and governing bodies.

No sanction has yet been announced and the process is not complete.

Ceferin’s presence will add further weight to the general assembly, with UEFA itself central to the wider debate over governance, regulation and the balance of power across European and world football.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot and Lori EwingEditing by Christian Radnedge)

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