The Club Financial Control Body"s (CFCB) adjudicatory chamber had been considering its sentence since May following a long-running investigation into an alleged £60million deception. City have consistently insisted they were "entirely confident" the ban can be overturned. What exactly is it claimed City did wrong? The club has been investigated by Uefa since documents obtained by the website Football Leaks, which cast doubt on their FFP probity, were published by Der Spiegel magazine in Germany in November 2018. Senior Uefa officials - who previously launched sanctions against City in 2014 - were particularly enraged by leaked files from 2015, which claim almost £60million was paid directly into the club by their billionaire Arab owners but declared as sponsorship. The documents, allegedly obtained by illegal email hacks, were previously said to show £59.5million that was supposed to have come from City"s principal sponsor, Etihad Airways, was paid directly to the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group. To put that into context, City"s record signing is Riyad Mahrez, who cost £60million from Leicester City. In Football Leaks, City owner Sheikh Mansour was accused of funding significant parts of so-called deals with club sponsors in an attempt to escape Uefa sanctions. Der Spiegel also alleged that City set up a secret scheme called "Project Longbow", which effectively hid about £40million in payments to players, after the club had agreed a 20 million euro fine as a settlement for FFP breaches. Among other potential breaches of Uefa rules, Der Spiegel published emails from 2010, reportedly from board member Simon Pearce communicating with colleagues, in which it is claimed he discusses a £15million deal with partner Aabar. "As we discussed, the annual direct obligation for Aabar is £3million," he allegedly wrote. "The remaining £12million will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness [Sheikh Mansour]." In another message, City"s chief financial officer, Jorge Chumillas, allegedly wrote that the club faced a £9.9million shortfall to comply with FFP thanks to the contract termination of manager Roberto Mancini. The Italian was sacked in 2013, a year to the day after winning the Premier League title. His giant payoff meant yet more expenditure on City"s books that had to be covered by income under Uefa rules. City were also accused of manipulating other sponsorship deals by backdating them. Der Spiegel reported that City and Paris St-Germain breached FFP rules by 188 million euro and 215million euro (£192million) respectively in 2014. Does this match precedent for clubs facing sanctions over financial deceptions? No, it"s dramatically bigger than any punishment ever handed out before. Financial Fair Play sanctions were first applied in September 2012, ranging from withholding of prize money to fines and bans from European competition. Queens Park Rangers were fined £17 million in July for breaking spending limits on their way to promotion to the Premier League in 2014. Turkish clubs Besiktas, Galatasaray and Bursaspor have all received bans from European competition for FFP breaches, but AC Milan avoided suspension after a successful appeal. Javier Tebas, president of Spanish football"s top division and a long-standing critic of City, has previously expressed doubts over whether City or Paris St-Germain would face sanctions because of a tangled web of financial relationships between the clubs and Uefa. The majority of cases get settled before reaching the adjudicatory chamber, which has a track record for following the advice of the investigation panel. Jose Narciso da Cunha Rodrigues, a Portuguese judge, was the chairman and looked at the case with three of its four members - vice-chairmen Christiaan Timmermans, of the Netherlands, Switzerland"s Louis Peila, English QC Charles Flint and Adam Giersz, Poland"s former sports minister. Appeals are common. CAS did uphold a Europa League ban for Turkish club Bursaspor in 2015 when it appealed. But two seasons ago, AC Milan"s ban from the Europa League for breaching FFP and licensing regulations was overturned by CAS, which told Uefa that the punishment was not proportionate and that the adjudicatory chamber had not properly assessed some "important elements". In February last year, Galatasaray also won a challenge at CAS against the adjudicatory panel when it reopened an investigation into the Turkish club. The following month, CAS also upheld Paris Saint-Germain"s appeal against Uefa reopening a probe into their finances up to June 2017. This will perhaps give Man City some encouragement, but those cases would appear to be very different to theirs - based more on technicalities and time limits. Do City believe they have been stitched up? Yes, documents from a previous CAS appeal reveal a bitter fallout with Yves Leterme, the chairman and chief investigator of Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body. He went on record in January last year to confirm that the club face "the heaviest punishment". The club said in a statement that the suggestion those involved in the investigatory process, overseen by Leterme, the former Belgian prime minister, had already found the club guilty of breaking financial fair play regulations was “extremely concerning”. City claim the allegations against them are “entirely false” and that there is “comprehensive proof” otherwise. The club were particularly angry at leaks published by The New York Times last May stating that Uefa financial investigators had already agreed to recommend a one-year ban. The club never in their worst nightmares anticipated a two year ban, however. All Uefa sanctions are frozen while the appeal takes place. How much could this cost City? Billions. As well as a costly appeal process, missing out on Champions League football will cause the most dramatic hit imaginable to the club"s extensive coffers. Uefa gives clubs competing in the tournament a total of two billion euros each year. To add to the headache, they still remain under separate investigations relating to their finances and transfer dealings by Fifa, the FA and the Premier League. It promises to be a busy spring for their lawyers.