(Football News) UEFA has recently imposed fines on Barcelona and Manchester United as part of the last round of financial monitoring conducted under the previous Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules, which have now been replaced. Barcelona has been fined 500,000 euros (USD 560,000) by UEFA for inaccurately reporting profits derived from the “disposal of intangible assets,” which were not in compliance with FFP regulations. The specific asset that was sold was not disclosed in UEFA’s statement.
On the other hand, Manchester United has been penalized with a fine of 300,000 euros (USD 336,000) as they failed to meet their target of approaching a break-even point in terms of their soccer-related business, encompassing player transfers, wages, and social taxes, as per FFP assessment requirements.
Both Barcelona and Manchester United, previous winners of the prestigious UEFA competitions, earned significant amounts of prize money, totaling tens of millions of euros (dollars) last season. Barcelona participated in the group stage of the Champions League before being eliminated in the Europa League knockout playoffs by United. Manchester United, in turn, reached the quarter final stage but was knocked out by eventual winner Sevilla.
In the case of Manchester United, APOEL, and Konyaspor, UEFA’s club finance panel deemed their offenses to be “minor break-even deficits.” As a result, the other two clubs were also fined 100,000 euros (USD 112,000) each.
Manchester United issued a statement pointing out the distinct approach to assess post-pandemic finances for the multitude of clubs qualifying for European competitions and undergoing scrutiny by UEFA-appointed investigators. They highlighted the change made by UEFA in adjusting for COVID-19 losses during the 2022 reporting period. This adjustment allowed them to recognize only 15 million euros of the total 281 million euros lost due to the pandemic in the FFP calculation. Manchester United is a three-time European champion.
Last September, a cluster of renowned clubs, including AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain, were subjected to fines by UEFA. However, they have successfully met the stricter financial objectives for the previous season. These clubs will remain under observation to ensure ongoing compliance over the next year.
On the other hand, Istanbul Basaksehir failed to achieve its targets and has been fined 400,000 euros (USD 448,000).
In separate cases, two clubs, Royal Antwerp (the newly crowned Belgian champion) and Trabzonspor, also fell short of meeting their break-even targets. They are now required to pay immediate fines of 300,000 euros (USD 336,000). Conditional fines of up to 1.7 million euros (USD 1.91 million) will be imposed if subsequent targets are not met.
Anderlecht has been issued a fine of 100,000 euros (USD 112,000) as a result of activating a previously conditional financial penalty.
Additionally, three clubs, namely Riga, Olimpija Ljubljana, and Slovan Bratislava, have each been fined 10,000 euros (USD 11,200) for failing to submit complete and accurate break-even information within the specified deadline. Notably, this marks the third time Olimpija has incurred fines under the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations since its former board member, Aleksander Ceferin, was elected as UEFA president in 2016.
UEFA has introduced a revised monitoring system, updating the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules that were initially approved in 2009. The new system places greater emphasis on ensuring financial sustainability among clubs, shifting away from the previous objective of achieving competitive balance on the field.
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