UEFA has slapped a €2 million fine on AS Roma and issued a serious warning to Istanbul Basaksehir, threatening them with a one-year ban from all European competitions. The punishments were handed down on Friday by the club finance investigators as part of their ongoing monitoring of financial regulations within European football.
Basaksehir, who also received a €100,000 fine, faces a potential suspension from the next UEFA competition they qualify for within the next three seasons unless they demonstrate compliance with new financial targets. The Turkish club’s registration for the upcoming Conference League has also been affected, with UEFA limiting them to 23 senior players instead of the usual 25.
Aston Villa and Marseille, both facing penalties for delays in submitting their financial reports to UEFA’s monitoring system, were fined €60,000 and €20,000 respectively. While Villa, who will be competing in the Champions League this season, could potentially earn over €40 million in UEFA prize money, Marseille, penalized by UEFA in 2022, missed out on qualifying for any UEFA competitions this year despite reaching the Europa League semifinals last season.
UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) system, initially implemented in 2009, has been revamped and rebranded as ‘Financial Sustainability’. This system seeks to ensure financial stability in top-level European football by scrutinizing revenue and expenditure of clubs participating in UEFA competitions. Despite its aims, the FFP has drawn criticism, with some arguing that it unfairly restricts investment by wealthy owners of emerging teams hoping to challenge established giants. Critics also point out that the system hasn’t been effective in deterring state-backed clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) from exceeding spending limits.
Under the current regulations, clubs are required to limit their spending on wages and transfer fees to no more than 90% of their revenue. This ‘squad cost rule’, which is being phased in over three seasons, will eventually reach a 70% limit. Despite previous penalties, clubs like PSG, Inter Milan, and AC Milan successfully met their financial targets last season. However, Roma, who slightly exceeded the intermediate target, faced the €2 million fine. Roma will compete in the Europa League this season, potentially earning substantial sums from UEFA’s prize money.
UEFA’s club finance monitoring panel deemed Basaksehir to have slightly violated the final target for last season, leading to the imposed sanctions. The club is now under pressure to demonstrate significant improvement in their financial practices to avoid the full brunt of the UEFA’s sanctions.
