Financial Fair Play. One would have cynically expected that these words uttered by UEFA’s giant mouth to be mere nonsense and that nobody, other than some minuscule clubs in a faraway land where “real” club football does not exist, would have to suffer from the consequences of said phrase. Alas, that thought is untrue, and UEFA have backed their words up by brutally punishing both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain for breaking the rules of Financial Fair Play.
Both clubs will suffer a £49 million (or £50 million according to some other reports) fine split over three years as well as stricter restrictions on their Champions League squads. Both teams can only register 21 players, instead of the regular 25 man team to Europe’s elite tournament and eight of those players must be “locally trained.” The clubs could also be subject to a salary cap on top of everything else.
Firstly it must be said that UEFA deserve praise in how they have actually handled the situation. In comparison to the many empty threats they usually employ, Europe’s main football governing body has actually stuck to their guns. In fact they deserve praise for coming down hard on the clubs in questions.
The downside of all this is it could still be bluster and guff from UEFA as the clubs will attempt to get this decision overturned. PSG are currently meeting with UEFA’s Club Financial Control Board (CFCB) to try and negotiate a number of things including asking UEFA to withhold Champions League payments as part of the fine.
Moreover, UEFA are allowing both Manchester City and PSG (there are seven other that are also currently under investigation too) to agree a “settlement” with UEFA by Friday. However, if a club fails to reach said settlement then they would be subject to a panel which would then apply a non-negotiable penalty. At least in that sense UEFA are applying a certain amount of pressure on these clubs to pay up something.
Yet that is exactly the problem. Why are they even trying to negotiate a penalty? Both Manchester City and PSG broke the Financial Fair Play rules so why can’t they pay off the fine and deal with the restrictions imposed on them. In fact why aren’t they banned from playing in the Champions League next season for breaking those rules? That would send a huge warning to every club under UEFA’s rule.
The only reason that prevents UEFA from imposing the maximum possible sanction of Champions League exclusion is that the clubs are too big to not participate— which is unjustifiable in some senses.
The problem that UEFA faces is that these big clubs, whether they have mass wealth or significant history behind them, are too big to fail. People still cannot get over the fact that Manchester United (arguably the most popular sports club in the world) are not going to be in the Champions League next season.
When the FIGC (a.k.a the Italian FA) had to discipline quite a few top flight clubs for match-fixing back in 2006, they were about to relegate Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio to Serie B. And two other clubs AC Milan and Reggina were about to have massive points deductions, that the latter would inevitably be relegated from Serie A.
In the end, the FIGC (and blame Italy for winning the World Cup that year) relegated Juventus. The problem is that Serie A became a monopoly for a couple of seasons with Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan side dominating the league. The damage had been done.
Excluding the likes of Manchester City and PSG from the Champions League for breaking Financial Fair Play rules could have a minimal effect in the short term. Yet there could be consequences for UEFA in the long term.
If UEFA decide to come down on the “nouveau riche” clubs then these clubs could eventually devolve to a US sports like European super league, which goes against the traditional meritocracy of association football. These clubs have the rich owners to create a footballing playground free from the confines of UEFA or FIFA regulation. Although this is just an extreme scenario which probably won’t happen for a very long time.
The point is this: UEFA are kind of in a quandary. They could either follow through with their initial punishment by enforcing strict penalties and restriction on the two clubs, or they could relax the Financial Fair Play rules.
When it comes to dealing with the big spenders of football, there is only one expression that fits which came from the TV series The Wire: “You come at the king, you best not miss.”
You come at the big clubs, you best not misfire.
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