May 26 – UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has said that his governing body is considering a ‘luxury tax’ in the wake of the covid-19 crisis.
In a wide ranging interview with the Guardian newspaper last week, the UEFA boss was asked about the future of Financial Fair Play, a system that has come under increased pressure in recent seasons over a number of high-profile cases and may require rethink in light of the coronavirus fallout, but Ceferin is adamant that UEFA won’t ease up on the FFP rules and may even introduce a ‘luxury tax’.
“If they don’t follow the rules they will always be sanctioned but of course we are [always] thinking about how we can improve our regulations and, if necessary, adapt,” said Ceferin. “This will not happen very soon but we are thinking of improving [FFP]; modernising it and doing something more about the competitive balance. We are also considering some sort of ‘luxury tax’, if it is possible.”
It is not the first time that Ceferin has mooted the idea of taxing the rich, even if he failed to expand how such a luxury tax would be implemented. Major League Baseball in the US has a luxury tax whereby, if a club owner did want to invest €100 million on transfers or wages into a club, he would have to pay a similar amount into a communal pot which would be redistributed to their opponents.
Ceferin also voiced his confidence that football will return sooner rather than later despite health experts around the world warning that the scenario of new coronavirus waves can’t be discounted. In fact, the Slovenian even argued that nothing much will change. In the future, he expects football to return to normal.
“It’s a serious situation but it is going down now and we are being more cautious,” said Ceferin. “We know more about the virus. I don’t like this apocalyptic view that we have to wait for the second and third waves or even a fifth wave … people you know are likely to die one day, but do we have to be worried today? I don’t think so. We are ready and we will follow the recommendations of the authorities but I’m absolutely sure, personally, that good old football with fans will come back very soon.
“I don’t think that anything will change for ever. It’s a new experience and when we get rid of this bloody virus things will go back to normal. Football didn’t change after the second world war, or first world war, and it will not change because of a virus either. People have said many times that the world will not be the same after … this might be true, but why not think that the world will be better after this virus? Why not think that we will be smarter, or finally understand how fragile we are, how unprotected we are towards nature? So, there are always lessons to be learned.”
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1734960477labto1734960477ofdlr1734960477owedi1734960477sni@o1734960477fni1734960477