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Club faces troubles - UEFA plans to investigate the sponsorship deal that the English team signed with the "Etihad" airline company.
According to the deal made for a period of ten years worth 455 million euros, the "Etihad" name will be displayed on the team's stadium and jerseys.
Critics expressed concern that the value of the agreement was artificially inflated in order to help the overspending "Man City" meet the new financial requirements set by UEFA. According to these requirements, clubs will only be allowed to spend what they earn.
"We will take action if there are loopholes found in the new rules," said UEFA's head of financial control department Jean-Lucas Dehaene. "It won't be enough to say 'we signed a sponsorship deal' if the amounts do not match market realities."
It should be noted that under the new rules, clubs risk being banned from European tournaments if they spend more than they are capable of earning. Over the next three transitional years, clubs will be allowed to incur an annual loss of 45 million euros. This amount will decrease over time, eventually not being able to exceed 10 million euros by 2018.
