UEFA warning ahead of financial fair play rules

[Deano]

Yeah....but Platini came out last week and said expulsion from the CL would not be a measure used this time around.
Fines were mentioned, and again today obviously, but point deduction was motioned as well.
That way clubs would still get their TV dosh, but wouldn't progress from the group stage in all likelihood.

Think UEFA would just like the check though please.

Probably because PSG have breached it

[Alex]

http://www.financialfairplay.co.uk/latest-news/uefa-introduces-a-new-9th-ffp-sanction-psg-beware

That article outlines that there are levels of sanction. So I guess they are going through a process.

[G]

Also those clubs affected by the financial doping of others have a right to appeal any UEFA "punishment" if they think its lenient. United,Liverpool,Arsenal will all throw a wobbler if City get off lightly.

[john316]

PSG reportedly have reached a financial settlement with UEFA. Would be great if we could just play 12 players in our games and just pay a fine for breaking the rules.

[kev776]

They should hit them hard, minimum of a 10k fine and a verbal warning.

[ronanm]

PSG reportedly have reached a financial settlement with UEFA. Would be great if we could just play 12 players in our games and just pay a fine for breaking the rules.

A fine is a great way to punsih those who overspend alright

[ChesterDave]

PSG had a backdated sponsorship deal and Platini said he was unsure if innovative or breaking the rules. I'll give you a clue Michelle... its the ruddy second option!

[RichC]

A backdated sponsorship deal **** off!!

If that's the reason he's given for letting them off then he's just given the blueprint to other clubs of how to get around this.

Utter farce.

[ChesterDave]

Yep, backdated according to BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27198306

[tsb]

Proof that the measures to curb excesses in the game are just an attempt to leech of the abundance of cash from oil / gas / corruption etc...

What a load of bollocks.

[BigChief]

Chelsea were sitting back, watching. Now the dye is set they'll go out in the summer and spunk £200million on 'genius' Mourinho's 'vision' for the future.

We got exactly what we expected from FFP.

[Roboklopp]

Complete disgrace as expected.

But where do you draw the line? Real have been at this kinda **** for years.

[Chazza]

Manchester City hit by Uefa with Champions League squad size cut and fine for breaching financial rules

Sanction for spending spree under ownership of Sheikh Mansour could deny club use of millions of pounds worth of their own talent and hurt player recruitment

Manchester City were on Tuesday night facing a cut in their Champions League squad size and a heavy fine for breaching Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations.

As revealed by the Telegraph, the investigatory chamber of the European game’s Club Financial Control Body has decided that City’s unprecedented £1 billion spending spree under the ownership of Sheikh Mansour did not comply with FFP rules.

The Telegraph has now learnt that City have been offered a punishment which includes a combination of financial and sporting sanctions – if they agree not to fight their guilty verdict.

The latter penalty would leave the club unable to register a full 25-man squad for the Champions League next season, potentially denying them use of millions of pounds worth of their own talent and hurting their ability to recruit players this summer.

City were given until Thursday to agree what is known as a “settlement” offer with the CFCB, a sanction which is open to negotiation but only to moderate effect.

Were they to fail to reach a consensus or refuse to accept their guilt, their case would transfer to the CFCB’s adjudicatory chamber, which would assess afresh whether they breached FFP and, if so, what punishment to impose.
City and Uefa declined to comment on Tuesday night on precise details of any settlement offer or whether one had already been agreed but European football’s governing body has previously made it clear that fighting on would put a club at risk of a more severe penalty, including expulsion from the Champions League.

Even if City agree to settle their case, FFP rules allow Premier League rivals such as Arsenal and Everton to challenge any sanction they deem too lenient. The latter clubs could argue City’s breach materially affected their chances of finishing third or fourth in the table, and thus hindered their European qualification hopes.

Having posted losses of £149 million between 2011-13 after buying the likes of Sergio Agüero, Samir Nasri, Gaël Clichy, Javi García and Matija Nastasic, the activities of City’s Abu Dhabi-based owners were always going to be heavily scrutinised under regulations that permitted clubs to lose £37.2 million after certain exceptions were discounted.

It is City’s attempts to balance their books which were most closely examined, particularly their 10-year, £350 million sponsorship deal with Etihad, the official airline of Abu Dhabi.

FFP rules prohibit transactions with companies which have ties to a club or their owners being used in this way unless they can be shown to represent fair market value. Designed to prevent wealthy owners artificially inflating the value of such deals, their validity is judged on three criteria.

If it is shown to be a related-party transaction, Uefa’s auditors calculate how much equivalent media exposure would have cost through the company advertising in other ways, how the tie-up compares with those struck by similar clubs, and what independent marketing experts think of the agreement.

City have always insisted that the deal is no more unfair when measured on a like-for-like basis than those struck by their closest rivals, including Manchester United and that their losses are moving in the right direction.
Paris St-Germain are the other big name to have been found guilty of breaching FFP by the CFCB’s investigatory chamber and they were also made a settlement offer including financial and sporting sanctions.

PSG had previously argued that their €200 million-a-year (£167 million) commercial arrangement with the Qatar Tourism Authority is above board but it emerged last month that Uefa had serious doubts over its validity and the French champions’ attitude to scrutiny of it.

The Uefa president, Michel Platini, told Le Parisien last week: “Do PSG respect the Financial Fair Play rules? Not sure ... not at all sure. Let’s just say that the economic model of PSG is unique and not normal.”

Promising “significant sanctions will hit the big clubs”, he added: “The first decisions will be announced in early May. But if you expect blood and tears, you will be disappointed. There will be some tough things but, I think, no exclusions from European competitions.”

The CFCB investigatory chamber will meet on Thursday, and possibly Friday, to approve settlement offers agreed with the less than 20 clubs found to have breached FFP regulations and refer any outstanding cases to the adjudicatory chamber.

Settlement offers will not be rubber-stamped by the head of the investigatory chamber, the former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, until next week. That means clubs are not expected to be formally named and shamed for at least a week.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/10797048/Manchester-City-hit-by-Uefa-with-Champions-League-squad-size-cut-and-fine-for-breaching-financial-rules.html

[Vermilion]

Sickening.



spend! spend! spend!

[RedAndWhite]

I'm going to give UEFA the benefit of the doubt on this one - for the moment. As this is the first round of "punishments" they may have decided to go lightly. Call it a first offense type of punishment. However, and this remains to be seen, I hope that repeat offenders will get progressively more harsh punishments.