By Andrew Warshaw
May 19 – With a raft of clubs struggling to comply, UEFA have agreed to relax the rules on financial fair play that were introduced in 2011 to curb overspending, but which have led to the widely anticipated threat of legal challenges.
In an interview with a French radio station, UEFA president Michel Platini said FFP was “working well” but would be “eased” this summer. This followed a report in Le Parisien newspaper on Sunday that said “significant changes” are on the table.
Criticism of FFP has grown over the last two seasons, with critics pointing out that far from creating a more level field by encouraging clubs to breakeven – the original goal – high-revenue clubs have gained a significant spending advantage to the detriment of both smaller ones and ambitious teams with wealthy new owners.
Last year, Paris St-Germain and Manchester City, both bankrolled by Middle East backers, each received a €20 million fine, had their squad sizes capped in Europe and had limits on their future transfer spending imposed. Inter Milan, Roma and Monaco are among other clubs who have been sanctioned.
Platini’s number two, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, defended FFP’s introduction but confirmed that a “number of amendments” were now under discussion and could be implemented at the UEFA executive committee session at the end of June – before the summer transfer window.
“Financial fair play has proved successful in achieving considerable improvement in the financial health of European football in a short period of time. Aggregate net losses of Europe’s clubs have fallen from €1.7 billion in 2011 to €400 million in 2014,” said Infantino.
“Regular review of the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations is vital in ensuring that they keep pace with the ever-changing football environment and the new challenges that this often poses.
“Discussions on amendments to the regulations are ongoing and have taken place since October 2013 within the UEFA Club Licensing Committee and also with the clubs, who are our main stakeholders in this process.
“Consultation remains ongoing and a number of amendments have been discussed. Any potential changes to the existing regulations will look to encourage more growth, more competition and market stimulation while strengthening the emphasis on controlling spending and safeguarding financial stability as our objective is and remains to ensure the sustainability of European club football.
“Any potential amendments to the regulations are subject to ratification by the UEFA Executive Committee, which will hold its next meeting on 29/30 June in Prague.”
Although under FFP clubs are given a phased-in period to reduce their losses, the article in Le Parisien suggested the proposed changes were a reaction to the “multiple legal actions (against FFP) currently in process, some of which are nearing conclusion”.
Some of those are being spearheaded by Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont, who represented journeyman footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in the mid-1990s and famously forced UEFA to overhaul its transfer system to allow freedom of movement in what quickly became known as the Bosman Ruling.
Dupont argues that FFP contravenes European Union law and was quoted as saying: “We welcome the announcement of a change in the rules in line with the demands expressed by our clients in their various legal actions.
“When the exact content and scope of these changes are known, we will consider how this development, which on first sight appears favourable, is likely to meet their legitimate expectations and influence the conduct of ongoing actions.”
UEFA are giving no details of the proposed changes but one option might be to allow owners to pump more of their own cash into their clubs.
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