By David Gold
June 10 – The Football League has agreed in principle to adopt the new UEFA financial fair play system, which requires clubs to balance their books and break even each year, after a meeting in Cyprus.
It is an issue which is particularly crucial for clubs throughout the professional league pyramid in England.
The 72 professional clubs outside of the Premier League have seen their combined debts increase rapidly in recent years to £700 million ($1.1 billion), the majority of which is concentrated in the Championship at £560 million ($920 million)
Football league chairman Greg Clarke said: “This is a very important step forward for professional football as it will help our clubs exert greater control over their finances.
“Much more work needs to be done, but I am hugely encouraged and impressed by the energy and focus of our clubs on this issue.
“They have been the catalyst for change and have shown a real desire to self-regulate in this area.
“I congratulate them on taking this bold step.”
Teams in the Championship are planning to have the new regulations in place by the start of the 2012-13 season.
The Salary Cost Management Protocol, which is already used in League Two, is to be introduced in League One from next season, which restricts how much a team can spend on wages to a fixed proportion of their turnover.
The UEFA fair play rules stipulate that clubs must break even over rolling three year periods or face a potential ban from European club competitions.
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