Manchester City are at risk of not only being thrown out of the Premier League if the club is found guilty of serious breaches of financial regulations.
It is clear that City are at risk of being eliminated from the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, and that they will not be able to continue playing in the Champions League or the Club World Cup.
As Telegraph Sport revealed at the start of the so-called ‘trial of the century’, which has seen 115 to 130 charges levelled against City, their Premier League rivals believe a one-off points deduction would not be punishment enough if they are found guilty of the vast majority of the offences they are accused of.
An expulsion from the world’s richest league would satisfy the demands for tougher sanctions but would also risk throwing English football into chaos and leaving the four-time reigning champions to continue playing in the FA Cup, EFL Cup and Champions League.
However, the rules of the two domestic cup competitions raise the possibility that City could also be banned from competitions outside the Premier League.
For example, Article 31 of the FA Cup Rules states: “Where a club has been admitted to take part in the competition but is subsequently expelled from the competition in which it plays (or its competition matches are suspended), the Professional Game Board shall [PGB] can take the club out of the competition.”
The PGB consists of representatives from the Premier League and the English Football League.
The EFL Cup rules define participating clubs as “any member of the Competition from time to time and any member of the Premier League from time to time”.
The rules for the Champions League appear to be more complex, with teams needing a UEFA club licence to play in European competitions.
UEFA, the FA and the Premier League all play a role in managing such licences and Telegraph Sports has not been able to determine whether exclusion from a national competition can be a reason for withdrawal.
The detailed rules for FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup, which starts this summer and for which City qualified after winning last year’s Champions League, also do not appear to be publicly available.
However, if City are expelled from domestic football, it could become very difficult for them to compete in the Champions League and Club World Cup, given the long gaps between league matches.
The prospect of them winning those competitions at the end of a season in which they have been expelled from the Premier League and possibly other competitions would also irritate rival clubs and supporters.
City have repeatedly denied wrongdoing, both before and after the Premier League charges were brought, saying they have a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” to support their position and that they “look forward to resolving this matter once and for all”.
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