Back in June 1985 English football clubs planned tours and preseason games were in doubt after first UEFA, then FIFA instigated bans on English clubs playing outside of the UK. According to the Liverpool Echo Manchester City was to be the first team to challenge the ban (see below for details). The bans followed the awful, tragic scenes at the 1985 European Cup Final featuring Liverpool. That day was an absolutely disgraceful day that saw 39 people die – please find a way to read about the circumstances. It really was horrific.
The reason this became a story on 11 June in 1985 in the Liverpool Echo is that City’s planned trip to Sweden was in jeopardy and the newspaper wanted to raise awareness of the possibility that the ban could be lifted.
Ultimately, City did not get to Sweden in 1985 and they played in the Isle Of Man tournament in July and August instead.
Gary James' Football Archive 