Manchester City and Paris St-Germain were warned on Monday that Uefa would not hesitate to expel them from the Champions League if they tried to “cheat” Financial Fair Play.
European football’s governing body promised full scrutiny of both clubs’ controversial sponsorship deals to determine whether they breached rules on investments from related parties.
Teams are not permitted to use income from such sources to comply with break-even regulations unless the contract signed can be shown to represent “fair market value”.
Manchester City signed a 10-year £350million stadium and shirt sponsorship deal in 2011 with airline Etihad, which is based in Abu Dhabi, the ruling family of which also own the club.
That was dwarfed by the £200million-a-year that PSG owners Qatari Investment Authority will receive from the Qatar Tourism Authority through to 2016.
It has been claimed that such deals would make a mockery of FFP were they to be given the green light when clubs submit their 2012 and 2013 accounts for the first round of auditing in the spring of next year.
Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino said it would be wrong to prejudge those figures but added: “They have to demonstrate that they can cover their costs with the revenues that they generate without cheating. If the result is that something went wrong then sanctions will be taken.”
Infantino insisted Uefa was not afraid to exclude a big club from one of its competitions, having already banned 34 teams – including Malaga and Besiktas – for breaches of other articles under FFP.
“Uefa will not be happy to do that, but Uefa will do that,” he added.
An independent adjudicatory chamber will impose any sanctions, which could spark legal action over the interpretation of “fair market value”.
Infantino was philosophical. He said: “We were always worried – and I say this with a smile – with clubs that were telling us, ‘We will sue you if you dare take sanctions against us for Financial Fair Play regulations’.
“Now we have the other clubs who will sue us if we don’t take sanctions against those who have breached the rules.”
Uefa was keen to ram home its viewpoint on Monday after releasing its 2011 Club Licensing Benchmarking Report, which also showed City andChelsea would have faced expulsion from the Champions League had the break-even rule been in force two years ago.
Infantino confirmed a pair of English teams were among 20 that would have exceeded the maximum €45 million losses over three years permitted.
Sanctions for FFP breaches, which take into consideration figures over two years initially, range from fines to expulsion from the Champions League and Europa League.
Both Chelsea and City are confident their accounts over that period will confirm they meet FFP targets.
Infantino said: “Last year, remember, when we published this benchmarking report for the clubs, we were saying that it’s a wake-up call for the clubs. But I think the clubs are really ‘up’, that the Financial Fair Play rules show that they have teeth and that those are biting now.”
Infantino said proof of this was that the average gap between clubs’ revenue and costs had gone down for the first time in five years, if only by 0.1 per cent from 12.7 per cent.
However, Uefa’s own report described overall losses as having “ballooned” from €0.6billion in 2007 to €1.7 billion in 2011, largely blaming combined employee and net transfer costs.
Infantino also urged the Premier League to adopt FFP when it debates the issue again at its quarterly meeting on Thursday.
Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino said it would be wrong to prejudge those figures but added: “They have to demonstrate that they can cover their costs with the revenues that they generate without cheating. If the result is that something went wrong then sanctions will be taken.”
Infantino insisted Uefa was not afraid to exclude a big club from one of its competitions, having already banned 34 teams – including Malaga and Besiktas – for breaches of other articles under FFP.
“Uefa will not be happy to do that, but Uefa will do that,” he added.
An independent adjudicatory chamber will impose any sanctions, which could spark legal action over the interpretation of “fair market value”.
Infantino was philosophical. He said: “We were always worried – and I say this with a smile – with clubs that were telling us, ‘We will sue you if you dare take sanctions against us for Financial Fair Play regulations’.
“Now we have the other clubs who will sue us if we don’t take sanctions against those who have breached the rules.”
Uefa was keen to ram home its viewpoint on Monday after releasing its 2011 Club Licensing Benchmarking Report, which also showed City andChelsea would have faced expulsion from the Champions League had the break-even rule been in force two years ago.
Infantino confirmed a pair of English teams were among 20 that would have exceeded the maximum €45 million losses over three years permitted.
Sanctions for FFP breaches, which take into consideration figures over two years initially, range from fines to expulsion from the Champions League and Europa League.
Both Chelsea and City are confident their accounts over that period will confirm they meet FFP targets.
Infantino said: “Last year, remember, when we published this benchmarking report for the clubs, we were saying that it’s a wake-up call for the clubs. But I think the clubs are really ‘up’, that the Financial Fair Play rules show that they have teeth and that those are biting now.”
Infantino said proof of this was that the average gap between clubs’ revenue and costs had gone down for the first time in five years, if only by 0.1 per cent from 12.7 per cent.
However, Uefa’s own report described overall losses as having “ballooned” from €0.6billion in 2007 to €1.7 billion in 2011, largely blaming combined employee and net transfer costs.
Infantino also urged the Premier League to adopt FFP when it debates the issue again at its quarterly meeting on Thursday.
