Manchester City have lost their case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which attempted to block UEFA from investigating the club for financial fair play, as fresh fears over a Champions League ban emerges.

Manchester City have had their appeal to the Court of Arbitration (CAS) for Sport thrown out, over UEFA’s plan to probe their Financial Fair Play (FFP) dealings.

City had claimed that there was no case to answer, and felt that there wasn’t a legitimate allegation of FFP breaches.

After CAS’s ruling, the Premier League champions now risk being banned from the Champions League, if they’re found guilty of not following FFP rules.

City had decided to appeal against UEFA’s investigation in June of this year, but now UEFA’s Adjudicatory Chamber can launch their full investigation into the club’s financial dealings.

The Citizens’ appeal was considered by a three-man panel at CAS, who ruled in favour of UEFA.

A CAS statement read: “An appeal against the decision of a federation, association or sports-related body may be filed with CAS, if the appellant has exhausted the legal remedies available to it prior to the appeal, in accordance with the statutes or regulations of that body.

“In the present case, the decision rendered by the CFCB IC to refer a case to the CFCB AC is not final and can therefore not be appealed to CAS directly, because the AC is competent to take any of the decisions listed in Article 27 CFCB Procedural Rules, that are described as being final.”

Under FFP rules, clubs are not allowed to spend more than the revenue they generate up to a certain amount.

But, City were alleged to have found ways around the FFP regulations, with millions of pounds’ worth of sponsorship money actually coming from the club’s owners, according to a report in Der Speigel.

The German publication claimed to have hacked emails from City officials, discussing ways around FFP.

UEFA’s Club Financial Control Board decided to investigate the issue after the reports.

The body’s chairman, Yves Leterme, threatened to enforce the “heaviest punishment” possible; “exclusion from UEFA competitions”.

City have denied all accusations of financial misgivings since the Der Speigel report emerged.

Even still, it’s recently been reported by the Athletic that UEFA won’t punish City for breaching FFP regulations and they will remain in the Champions League.

The final verdict from UEFA isn’t expected until next month.