• City were fined £49m for breaching rules • Uefa says case could be reopened in light of recent allegations

Uefa has warned Manchester City it may reopen its 2014 Financial Fair Play (FFP) investigation into the club. Citing documents and emails provided by the whistleblowing platform Football Leaks, German magazine Der Spiegel has published a series of articles over the past 10 days accusing City’s Abu Dhabi owners of trying to circumvent European football’s FFP rules.

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Some at Uefa believed that to be the case in 2014, too, and the club was punished – but Der Spiegel claims the governing body was unaware of some of the details.

City have repeatedly described Der Spiegel’s reports as the product of a “clear and organised” attempt to tarnish their reputation, while Uefa’s initial response was to say it could not comment because of “confidentiality obligations”. Der Spiegel’s specific allegations remain unchallenged, however.

In a statement, Uefa said it makes an annual assessment of all clubs against FFP’s break-even requirements on a rolling three-year basis, and this assessment depends on “fair and accurate” information provided by the clubs, as well as “compliance checks and analysis undertaken by Uefa”.

“If new information comes to light that may be material to this assessment, Uefa will use that to challenge the figures and will seek explanation, clarification or rebuttal from the club concerned.

“Should new information suggest that previously-concluded cases have been abused, those cases may be capable of being reopened as determined on a case-by-case basis.”

Uefa also defended the FFP system, saying it had helped clubs across Europe go from a cumulative debt of £1.5bn in 2011 to more than £500m in profits last year. “Without question, [FFP] has been a success for the game across Europe,” it added.

City accepted a £49m fine for breaching FFP in 2014. The sanction also included a restriction on the size of the club’s squad for Europe the following two seasons and limits on their transfer spending and wage bill.

In a statement issued at the time, the club suggested they were minded to fight Uefa in the courts but had decided to reluctantly accept the punishment in the interests of their fans, partners and commercial operations. Three years later, two-thirds of that fine, more than £33m, was reimbursed to City by Uefa for meeting the terms of the 2014 settlement.

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Rival clubs could have appealed against City’s 2014 sanction, or the similar punishment Paris Saint-Germain received at the same time, but none did and, so far, none has called for new sanctions now.

Uefa, however, is already investigating PSG’s finances again, although the French club have challenged that decision at the court of arbitration for aport, while Spain’s La Liga has asked Uefa to look again at City’s books as well.