Manchester United and Barcelona are in trouble as UEFA has punished both clubs for Financial Fair Play (FFP) violations. On Friday, the organization revealed the decision and why they penalized the two clubs. The decision to fine the clubs comes after a discussion regarding FFP rules last year. The rules have been replaced with new ones, with newer sustainable ones announced last year.
Many big clubs, like Paris Saint Germain, Inter Milan, and AC Milan were also implicated in breaking FFP rules. All three clubs settled with UEFA back in September. They were given time to resettle their accounts which they have done so.
Manchester United, FC Barcelona penalized by UEFA
According to Reuters, Barcelona has been slapped with a €500k fine, as they have been accused of falsifying data in their profit reports for the 2022 season. This is regarding the sale of assets last year to raise revenue which was listed as profit. According to UEFA, the club was wrong in doing so as they only consider player sales as the only disposal of assets to make money.
The Catalan club is reportedly planning to appeal the decision. They believe the penalty is too huge, and, as La Liga accepted the reports, they believe it is unfair. They are preparing to appeal to TAS to overturn the fine.
🚨 | Barcelona have also been fined €500,000 whilst Manchester United fined €300,000 for breaching Financial fair play rules by UEFA.#mufc pic.twitter.com/KoN1TFxleC
— The Transfer Insider (@Transferintel) July 14, 2023
Meanwhile, Manchester United has been fined €300k for some minor economical decisions. They failed to meet some targets set by UEFA and were punished as a result.
United acknowledged the penalization and released a statement. It said, “While disappointed by the outcome, Manchester United accepts this fine for what UEFA acknowledges to be a minor technical breach of its previous Financial Fair Play rules.”
Some other clubs were also fined, with most of them close to €100k.
What is FFP?
Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules are some guidelines set by UEFA. FFP is there to determine how much a club can spend with respect to the club’s revenue and sales. They are there for two reasons.
The first one is to prevent clubs from spending more than they earn. This is to allow competitiveness to exist in all teams and to avoid some teams from becoming too dominant through superior transfer spending. The second reason is to prevent clubs from falling into financial mismanagement which could harm their survival.
An independent panel is set up which determines which clubs have breached FFP regulations. They then dish out fines, transfer bans or even total expulsion from European competitions depending on the severity of the breach.
After the COVID pandemic hit clubs with further losses, UEFA has become even stricter with FFP rules.
In the future, we could see an even bigger crackdown on the club’s spending. As more and more clubs report huge losses, and keep spending money to stay competitive, UEFA will make sure to prevent an improper way of running the clubs.
