Manchester United executive chairman Ed Woodward refused to be drawn on Manchester City’s Financial Fair Play punishment but believes the regulations must be properly enforced.

City were given a two-season ban from the Champions League by UEFA earlier this month for “serious breaches” of FFP rules.

City quickly announced they would be appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and gave a robust denial to UEFA’s findings.

During a conference call with United’s investors on Tuesday, Woodward said: “I’m not going to comment on City or any other clubs relating to those events.

“But, what I will say is, I go to a lot of UEFA-related meetings, being on the ECA (European Club Association) board and also deputy chairman of the UCC SA (UEFA Club Competitions SA), which is a joint venture between the ECA and UEFA.

“And I see a strong commitment from UEFA to ensure that Financial Fair Play continues to deliver the benefits that it clearly has in the industry.

“And, if you look at the last sort of five years, the overall operating profits across the top leagues in the 55 countries in Europe, they have gone from pretty large losses all the way up to to breaking even and small operating profits.

“I think it’s been beneficial overall and clearly it’s up to the regulators to manage that.”