Two money rolling clubs Manchester City and Paris St Germain are under scanner of UEFA for their misconducts over financial fair play policy compliances. UEFA, reportedly, has warned these clubs to prove they are not cheating via inflating their income by signing sponsorship deals with owners’ associates companies. Notably, both clubs have signed some big sponsorship deals last year, and most of these deals were belonged to their owners’ sister concerns, which means, according to UEFA, these clubs are fictitiously inflating their income to gain more buying power in transfer windows, which further lays unfair playing field for others. UEFA reports these presumed violations in its annual report published recently where it suspected there are around 46 clubs covering 22 European countries who would need to prove their money flow in the past year. City’s recent deal worth £400million with Etihad airline is under scanner coz its Abu Dhabi-based owners have a controlling stake in the airline. Similarly, PSG’s £125million recent deal with Qatar Tourist Authority is also assumed to be linked with its Qatar owners.
If any of these clubs could not prove entries in their accounts, they could be barred for spending money until they clear off their debts. The ultimate objective of forming financial fair play rules back in 2009 was to ensure every club spends less than it earns. The need for such rules has long been predicted coz of various clubs’ inability to meet their liabilities. By means of financial fair play rules each club can better control its finance and it also provides a level playing field for other clubs.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said about City and PSG as, “Everyone, including PSG, know they have to demonstrate are without cheating and that will be submitted to panels. We have a regulation which speaks about fair value of deals and the fact that a related party cannot just inject money into a club directly or indirectly.”
He also talked about the expenditures which are exempted to be counted under spending of a club, he added about Beckham who recently pledged his salary for a charity, “It’s certainly a very good thing that he donates his salary or PSG do; if and how this will have an impact will have to be assessed.” He further explained the basic principle behind FFP by saying if you are earning £1000; you can’t spend £1200. He also praised EPL for implementing financial fair policies.