UEFA
UEFA to introduce new ‘anti-Chelsea’ Financial Fair Play regulation
UEFA’s Executive Committee meets on Wednesday and will announce regulation changes which will prevent clubs from finding FFP loopholes.
The UEFA Executive Committee is expected to approve a series of measures which will strengthen its Financial Fair Play model on Wednesday. One of the main FFP changes that will be introduced is designed to stop clubs from finding loopholes to get around pre-existing rules related to the amortisation and the duration of player contracts.
How will the FFP change affect future transfers?
Under the new regulations, clubs will still be able to sign players on the length of contract that the wish, but they will now have a maximum of five years in which to amortise the transfer fee paid for said player.
In recent times, there have been examples of clubs handing out contracts of unprecedented lengths, such as the eight-and-a-half-year deal Enzo Fernández signed when completing his €121 million (circa $132.6 million) move to Chelsea in January. The Premier League club have been the most high-profile users of that particular transfer strategy, spreading the cost of the transfer over a longer period to “lower” their yearly spending, in FFP terms. However, they will now only have five years to amortise future transfers fees, regardless of the contract length.
Multi-club ownership: controversial but not on the agenda
Another hot topic at the moment is multi-club ownership. In the 2023/24 season, Brighton of the Premier League and Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise, owned by Tony Bloom, will both take part in the Europa League, while RedBird Capital partners own French side Toulouse and Italian giants Milan, who will both also be involved in European competition. Multi-club ownership isn’t, in theory, on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting but will have to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
European final venues to be decided
What will be decided are the venues for some upcoming European finals. One of Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon and Vodafone Park in Istanbul will host the 2025 Women’s Champions League final, while it is expected to be confirmed that the Europa Conference Leagues finals in 2024 and 2025 will be played at OPAP Arena in Athens (Greece) and Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw (Poland) respectively.