Allegations that Manchester City artificially inflated commercial agreements with their main sponsor Etihad were "not established to the comfortable satisfaction" of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which also concluded the Premier League club showed a "blatant disregard" for UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FFP) investigation principles.
City had a two-season ban from UEFA competitions quashed earlier this month after CAS found they were not guilty of "disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions", although they were fined €10 million (£9m/$11m) for not co-operating with the investigation launched by European football's governing body.
UEFA, which previously punished City for FFP violations in May 2014, opened a fresh probe on the back of a series of articles published by German publication Der Spiegel in November 2018, which drew upon information obtained by the whistleblower Football Leaks.