By Andrew Warshaw
January 18 – UEFA president Michel Platini has met with French politicians to discuss his organisation’s financial fair play rules designed to prevent clubs spending more than they earn.
According to Bloomberg, Platini was invited by parliamentarians to explain the thinking behind punishing teams if they break cost control regulations.
Platini’s visit was of particular interest given Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain’s record amount of spending on players. The club won its last domestic league title in 1994 but has spent more in recent months than any other European team including buying prolific Swedish goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Argentine duo Javier Pastore and Ezequiel Lavezzi.
French government regulations do not as yet include breakeven rules but there is a growing debate in France about soaring football finances.
UEFA is seeking to combat club spending that is driving up losses at clubs but, more importantly, creating an unlevel playing field for teams that do not have the financial resource to compete. Losses among European teams have grown from €700 million in 2008 to €1.7 billion in 2011, according to UEFA statistics.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi recently said he had no plans to cease his spending spree. “We will keep on investing,” he said.
“It’s necessary to become one of the great European clubs. Other clubs have invested for 20 years. We have been there for a year and a half and now we must stop pouring money? It would be unfair.”
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