UEFA president Alexander Ceferin has stated he will await the verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) before giving his opinion on Manchester City’s ban from European competitions.

As things stand, the Citizens are suspended from UEFA tournaments for two seasons, which will have consequences for the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham who are competing for a top-four finish.

An appeal date has now been set for June 8th to June 10th, after which City will find out whether their ban has been reduced or overturned. Ceferin says he doesn’t know enough about the case to make a definitive judgement:

“Look, the decision was made and now the case is at the court of arbitration for sport and CAS will decide. That’s absolutely all I can say, for two reasons.”

“Firstly, the independent bodies made the decision, I didn’t, and secondly, I really don’t know the case [well enough] and I don’t like people who comment about matters that they don’t know well. There are too many people commenting on different topics that they do not have a clue about.”

The fact that he is already distancing himself from the UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body adjudicatory chamber who made the decision is an interesting development. Ceferin even went further to say that Financial Fairplay rules could be relaxed in the future:

“This will not happen very soon but we are thinking of improving [FFP]; modernising it and doing something more about the competitive balance. We are also considering some sort of “luxury tax” if it is possible.”

City are likely to invest heavily in their lawyers for their appeal at CAS and they will be hoping to convince them that UEFA’s allegations are without foundation.