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UEFA warning ahead of financial fair play rules
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Financial Fair Play: Stop the FFP 'train' immediately, says lawyer in landmark case
linkLawyers fighting to bring down UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regime, in a case which has potential huge significance for football, today urged a judge to “stop the train” and put an immediate halt to the rules being made more stringent.
The UEFA regime demands that clubs become gradually more frugal, with each side entering the governing body’s competitions allowed aggregate losses of only 30m euro (£21.8m) in the seasons 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 rather than the aggregate 45m (£32.7m) for 2013/2014 and 2014/15. But Jean-Louis Dupont, one of the lawyers who secured the landmark Bosman ruling and who is now fighting FFP, told a judge in Brussels that the 45m euro figure must remain in place until the court has ruled on his case that FFP is illegal.
After the hearing, Mr DuPont told The Independent: “Since this is a case which is complicated and because UEFA will make it complicated, we have asked the judge – as an interim measure – to suspend the second phase, to freeze the current figure and to stop the UEFA train from speeding up. It is an interim request so we did not ask for the regime to be suspended.”
The challenge to UEFA’s regime – which Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain are keenly awaiting the outcome of, having fallen foul of FFP last year – has been brought at the Court of First Instance in Brussels by football agent Daniel Striani, who is represented by Mr Du Pont.
After UEFA have put their own case tomorrow morning, the court will adjourn while the judge reaches a decision on the interim ruling he is being asked to make. If the judge feels that he has the jurisdiction to rule on this case – not a certainty – it could take 30 days, or possible 60 days, for him to make a decision. A date will then be set for a third hearing – which Mr Du Pont believes may be four months away – in which he will hear the core of the FFP case.
The interim ruling could be significant, Mr DuPont said, “because we will see the way the judge views the case.” But British FFP specialists said last night that securing such a freeze may be challenging.
“It may prove difficult for Mr Striani to argue any interim measure that freezes the current 45m euro losses permitted until the case has been ruled on, because such a mechanism may need to last a couple of years in case of a referral to the European Courts,” said sports lawyer and FFP specialist Daniel Geeyof Field Fisher Waterhouse.
Mr Dupont, who is argue that FFP infringes competition law and should therefore be declared illegal, said that the case to hear the core issue should not be drawn out, as the written submissions have already been put before the court. A group of 30 PSG fans are bringing an identical case in Paris and they, too, hope for an interim decision by July.
The legal argument in the Striano case is that the break-even requirement of FFP is in breach of article 101.2 of the EU Treaty. This article basically prohibits cartels and other agreements that could disrupt free competition and, therefore, have an impact on consumer protection.Go **** yourself
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The only thing FFP will do long term is cement the teams currently at the highest level. So from that POV its extremely unfair. However, the idea that it stops smaller teams from doing a Leeds is a good thing.
Ultimately I think some form of Financial control is needed, because a Man City/PSG/Chelsea situation could happen every 2 years and totally blow the market up. Meaning higher prices for all.*Except Michael, who died.
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But could a wage cap work?Originally posted by Alex View PostThe only thing FFP will do long term is cement the teams currently at the highest level. So from that POV its extremely unfair. However, the idea that it stops smaller teams from doing a Leeds is a good thing.
Ultimately I think some form of Financial control is needed, because a Man City/PSG/Chelsea situation could happen every 2 years and totally blow the market up. Meaning higher prices for all.* The above is posted in my opinion. Feel free to disagree.
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Liverpool expected to escape FFP fine but Hull could face sanctions
Liverpool are expected to be cleared of any financial fair play breaches on Friday but Hull will be handed a small fine by Uefa. Liverpool are one of several clubs who were absent from European competition last season who have been under investigation by the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB).
The CFCB will meet on Friday and is expected to announce that investigations into Liverpool have ended without any sanctions to be brought against the club. It is understood that Hull, who played in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League, have agreed to settle for a small fine for FFP breaches.
Last year Levski Sofia and three Turkish clubs each received a €200,000 fine and Hull’s sanction is thought to be of a similar level. The CFCB is also expected to announce that investigations into Monaco, Internazionale, Sporting Lisbon and Roma are to continue.
Liverpool made a loss of £49.8m for the 2012-13 season, and £40.5m for the 10-month period before that but have been able to write off a big chunk of those losses as allowable stadium expenditure - the 2011-12 accounts reported that £49.6m was associated with Liverpool’s stadium costs, £35m coming from the former co-owner Tom Hick’s aborted plan to build a new stadium on Stanley Park which new owners Fenway Sports Group had to scrap.
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain were the clubs hit hardest by Uefa last season for breaching FFP rules - they were each fined £49m and handed restrictions on transfer spending and a reduction in Champions League squad size.
UEefa is continuing to monitor the two clubs this season and auditors are due to visit City next week.*Except Michael, who died.
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the competition is fast becoming a sham
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