Friday 13th August 2021
Financial fair play about to end?
UEFA is apparently planning bizarre luxury tax
An absurd upgrade is taking place in international football this summer. The top clubs from England and Paris St. Germain are decorating their expensive squads with new luxury objects. How that fits together with financial fair play is unclear. The rule may soon overturn anyway.
The European Football Union (UEFA) intends to propose the abolition of financial fair play in September and instead introduce a salary cap for clubs. However, this could be exceeded by paying a “luxury tax”, as the English “Times” reported. The new rules are to apply from 2022 and initially for three years.
Accordingly, the clubs should only be allowed to use a fixed portion of their income for player salaries. There is 70 percent in the room, as is currently already practiced in the Spanish league. If the upper salary limit is exceeded, the so-called “luxury tax” is to be paid to UEFA. For clubs that are funded by sheikhs, oligarchs or other investors, however, this should not be a daunting scenario. The money from this tax will then be redistributed to the clubs that abide by the rules. According to “Times”, sanctions up to and including exclusion from European competitions should be possible if clubs permanently spend more money than stipulated in the regulations.
On Wednesday, the former Bayern board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge again spoke out in favor of stricter financial controls. “It already exists in the form of Financial Fair Play. It just needs to be adapted and used and demanded more stringently,” said Rummenigge of “Sport Bild”. UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin is also striving for a change, especially as the gap between the big and small clubs is getting bigger.
With the Financial Fair Play introduced eleven years ago, clubs are currently allowed to run a deficit of a maximum of 30 million euros over the past three years. This can be offset by external donors, otherwise there will be sanctions. In view of the pandemic, however, there was easing. In the past few days and weeks there had been an absurd upgrade of the top clubs from England and Paris St. Germain in international football. Among other things, Lionel Messi landed in the French capital. And it was only on Thursday that Chelsea made a new English record deal clear. The Londoners brought striker Romelu Lukaku back from Inter Milan for 115 million euros.
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