Financial Fair Play is not dead and UEFA could very soon begin to impose sanctions on some of the Italian clubs whose accounts continue to suffer.
Calciomercato.com report that a meeting today will confirm Roma have received a capital injection of €460m from their owner Friedkin after a record loss of €185m in the most recent accounts. There was a footnote attached to the statement the Giallorossi put out regarding Financial Fair Play which could interest Milan, Juventus and Inter.
In the press release, Roma announced that: “On the basis of the final figures as at 30 June 2021, a deviation from the UEFA break-even requirements for the reporting period of 4 years has been recorded. Therefore, the Club may be subject to the sending of more economic-financial information and, subsequently, the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB), in charge of the control, may request any contradictory clarifications for the appropriate assessments.”
Essentially their statement confirms that – despite the transfer of ownership and the possibility of a Settlement Agreement – Roma are aware that sanctions could soon arrive for their poor accounts.
The Covid justification will soon expire given fans are now back in the stadium which brings revenue from the box office, sponsorships and so on. Juventus could be under the magnifying glass of UEFA after huge €200m losses, for example.
Milan negotiated their exclusion from European competition for a season in the Settlement Agreement they signed two years ago and may soon have to report to UEFA, but they have the excellent work of Elliott Management to back them up.
The hope is that UEFA will look at the way the American fund have helped to cut the losses from nearly €200m to less than half over the past year and show recognition, but the issue of raising revenues to allow greater expenditure on the transfer market remains.
Inter, on the other hand, have a bleak financial situation but have been able to generate funds through player sales.
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