UEFA have fined Manchester United £256,744 for a minor breach in their FFP rules. The CFCB discovered that United had fallen short of its goal to get close to breaking even on football-related activities such as player transfers, salaries, and social taxes. United reportedly feels that UEFA could have been more accommodating when it came to accounting for losses during Covid-affected seasons, but they do acknowledge that they broke the rule. Furthermore, it is acknowledged that the predicament won’t have any bearing on the club’s potential to bolster Erik ten Hag’s team during the summer transfer window. Mason Mount, a £60 million acquisition from Chelsea, was the only player United brought in this summer.
“Manchester United accepts this sanction for what UEFA admits to be a minor technical violation of its prior Financial Fair Play guidelines while being unhappy by the outcome,” the club said in a statement. “This was due to a change in how UEFA handled Covid-19 losses for the 2022 reporting period, which permitted us to only account for €15 million (£12.8 million) of the €281 million (£240.5 million) in lost revenues as part of the FFP calculation. After the epidemic, the clubs’ sales quickly bounced back and are anticipated to set new records this fiscal year. The club is still in favor of standards that encourage financial integrity and sustainability in both local and European competition.”
Barcelona was also fined €500,000 (£427,840) by the CFCB for falsely declaring revenues from the “disposal of intangible assets” that were not permitted to be reported as income under the FFP. Despite having met their goals for the fiscal year 2022, AC Milan, Roma, Inter Milan, and Paris Saint-Germain will all still be under the CFCB’s scrutiny as part of their settlement regime. The FFP regulations that were introduced in 2009 have been amended by UEFA with a new monitoring system that gives financial sustainability for clubs priority and does away with the idea of making competitive balance on the pitch a realistic goal.
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