Blues ban fight played out away from home

THE Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) are considering holding cases away from their headquarters as they look to keep working during the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

With national restrictions in place in Switzerland until April 19 and regional restrictions in Lausanne where the organisation is based - set until April 30, a statement from CAS on Tuesday confirmed that there would be no in-person hearings held before May 1 at the earliest.

With staff mostly working remotely, cases that can be decided on the basis of written submissions or via video conferencing are being progressed. Such is the complexity and significance of City’s appeal against UEFA and their two-year competition ban, that it is expected to need an in-person hearing over a number of days to resolve.

One possibility being explored by CAS, ‘if appropriate and possible (considering the high risk of border shutdown or of quarantine), and if all persons involved agree’, is to conduct such hearings in cities that are not subject to measures that are as restrictive as those in Lausanne.

City’s case is still at an early stage with a date to be set, a panel to be appointed and the first written submissions made.

The delays to a timetable on which City are not even listed up to May 18 has increased the likelihood of a hearing being pushed beyond the early summer deadline the club were initially hoping for.

However, CAS general secretary Matthieu Reeb did not rule out May as an option if everything is in place by then to start a hearing.

Asked by M.E.N Sport if City’s case could be moved ahead of those already listed, the response was:

“Hearings are not fixed in any particular order. The date is determined by the availability of the parties and arbitrators and the readiness of the case to be heard (an exchange of written submissions needs to be completed first).

“The case Man City / UEFA may be added to the list of CAS hearings at a later stage and take place in May, or later, depending on the circumstances and on the agreement of the parties.”

There have not been any requests made to CAS to request a public hearing for the case, although this could come later.