Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are among the European clubs who will learn this week whether they are deemed to be in serious breach of Uefa's financial fair play rules. The Club Financial Control Body's (CFCB) investigatory chamber, headed by the former Belgium prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, is to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to consider the cases of 76 clubs. Those considered to have committed serious breaches of Uefa's break-even rules will be referred to the CFCB's adjudicatory panel for a final verdict, with Uefa to announce details of all sanctions around 5 May. The sanctions could include being barred from European competition. Manchester City, who have lost £149m in the past two seasons, and PSG are both understood to be among the 76 clubs under investigation. The CFCB panel will have four options open to them: to dismiss the case; to agree a settlement with the club effectively putting them on probation; to issue a reprimand and fine of up to â¬100,000; or in serious cases to refer the club to the adjudicatory chamber. The clubs should therefore know their position, and how much they have to fear, by the end of the week. PSG are believed to be most at risk â the Qatari-owned club effectively wiped out its annual losses of â¬130m by announcing a back-dated sponsorship deal with the Qatar Tourism Authority. As it is a deal with a related party, however, the French club will have to convince Uefa the deal is a fair market value. The French newspaper L'Equipe reported last month that Uefa officials found the Paris club's officials "a bit haughty" in the discussions over FFP, but that Manchester City had been more convincing. The PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi insisted in January the sponsorship deal was not creative accounting. He said: "Our contract with Qatar Tourism Authority is not some accounting trick. It's the same contract we have with Emirates. There's no reason for Uefa to disagree. Everything is legal. Our lawyers are very competent." Clubs can lose up to â¬45m (£37m) over the last two years under Uefa's rules. City made losses of £97.9m in 2012 and £51.6m last year, but can write off sums spent on facilities, youth development and a number of other items. Other top English clubs have little to fear, with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United being in the black in both years. Chelsea made a £49.4m loss last year but made a £1.4million profit in 2012 so will comply. Liverpool and other clubs such as Monaco, who are not playing in Europe this season, will not have to pass the FFP rules until next autumn, with any sanctions applicable in 2015. Liverpool last month announced losses of £49.8m up to the end of May 2013, and a further £40.5m over the previous 10 months. Uefa confirmed it would announce any decisions at the start of next month. A statement said: "Uefa does not provide any details about clubs' ongoing investigations as part of the monitoring process, nor will it comment on correspondence between the CFCB and clubs. Uefa will only communicate once decisions have been taken by the CFCB investigatory chamber, which we anticipate will happen at the beginning of May." Clubs can appeal against any decision to the court of arbitration for sport. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/14/manchester-city-psg-ffp-uefa-set-learn-fate
It's just a crying shame that Chavski manage to get through FFP after ten years of buying titles and trophies. Hopefully City and PSG get punished hard though; something other than a fine would be nice.
If city get punished and they appeal the punishment I believe whoever is 5th place could lodge a complaint and then the powers that be have the option to give the cl spot to the 5th placed team.
They don't need to get booted. From reading through the article and other info on it, it seems that if city appeal the punishment they are given, regardless of what the punishment is (transfer embargo, fines etc) then whoever is effected by the decision can appeal and whoever is 5th could press to have the cl spot. Which basically means icy will just accept whatever punishment they get so as not to risk losing there cl spot. Even though I think uefa would melt and not award it to the 5th place team anyway!
LOL... Arsenal might just manage a Champions League spot yet again even if Everton take 4th, as expected! That would make Spurs really angry... I love it.
If Arsenal get fifth then you can guarantee a appeal! Would Wenger then talk about winning the top five trophy?
It's getting into the cl that is the priority, the actual league position is irrelevant! Ask Tottenham hahahahaha
soooooo. 1. they can breach the rules and get a 100k fine? 2 lets be clear the whole future of ffp is at stake. if these are let away with nothing or a fine everyone will break the rules and laugh. why would you adhere to a rule and loe out when others break it an win... 100k is one players weeks wage at city...
If even that. I expect their punishment will be a letter (sent 2nd class post) stating "must try harder.... please". FFP is there to protect the hegemony of current clubs. Big clubs with clout will not be punished, fines and sanctions will only be imposed on 'smaller' clubs that violate the regulations. They are there to stop nouveau riche and new sugar daddy clubs from joining the elite.
