By Andrew Warshaw
March 28 – The lawyer who helped changed the face of European football has warned that UEFA’s Financial Fair Play system may not stand up in court if challenged. Jean-Louis Dupont (pictured), part of the legal team who brought about the Bosman ruling back in the 1990s, says FFP risks violating competition law and freedom of movement.
UEFA are introducing FFP, which comes into full effect next season, to ensure loss-making clubs live within their means and stop behaving irresponsibly. But Dupont, who acted for journeyman Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in a case that transformed the transfer system virtually overnight, says UEFA are taking a legal gamble.
“Some of Europe’s biggest clubs are, unsurprisingly, the loudest supporters of rules that entrench their dominance,” said Dupont. “The time is right for a strong reminder from the EU’s anti-trust authorities that football, like any other multibillion-euro industry, must comply with the law.”
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he added: “As an agreement whereby industry participants jointly decide to limit investments, FFP likely constitutes collusion and hence a violation of EU competition law. FFP may also infringe other EU freedoms such as the free movement of workers and services.”
“Even if FFP were sufficiently legitimate and necessary to justify its distortions of EU principles, however, it would still have to clear a final hurdle: proportionality. UEFA would need to convince the EU’s judges in Luxembourg that FFP is the least restrictive means of achieving its aims. This seems unlikely.”
Dupont argued that the best way UEFA could stop financial imbalance would be by imposing a “luxury tax” on high-spending clubs such as Manchester City and Paris St Germain.
But UEFA moved quickly to defend their rules by saying they were a necessary and positive boost for the game.
“UEFA is aware that there are large differences between the comparative wealth of different clubs and countries, but Financial Fair Play does not have financial equality as its objective,” a spokesman commented. “However, more investors should be attracted if club football is more sustainable and those clubs with sustainable and stable business models will be in a position to become more competitive.”
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