UEFA have stepped up their Financial Fair Play crusade by hitting AC Milan with a realistic fine and the threat of expulsion of they don’t reach break even point within three seasons.
The Italian giants successfully appealed a previous UEFA decision to Court of Arbitration for Sport but that seems to have strengthened the governing bodies determination to apply their rules.
Since winning the Champions League in 2007 AC Milan have been through a number of financial difficulties at a time when they should have been cashing in on the forced relegation of Juventus for cheating.
UEFA have stepped up their application of FFP rules after claims that their interest was lukewarm with only soft targets coming under scrutiny.
According to the UEFA website:
The Adjudicatory Chamber of the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) has taken a decision in the case of the club AC Milan following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel in CAS 2018/A/5808 AC Milan v. UEFA to refer the matter to the CFCB for the imposition of a proportionate disciplinary measure for the club’s breach of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations, in particular the break-even requirement.
Accordingly, should the club not be break-even compliant at 30 June 2021, it will be excluded from participating in the next UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify, in the two seasons 2022/23 and 2023/24. The club will also have EUR 12 million of its UEFA revenues from the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League withheld and will not be permitted to register more than 21 players for participation in UEFA competitions in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.
This decision may be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in accordance with Article 34(2) of the Procedural rules governing the UEFA Club Financial Control Body, as well as Articles 62 and 63 of the UEFA Statutes.
AC, now managed by Rino Gattuso, finished in third place in their Europa League group, missing out on qualification on goals scored.
One group of Celtic shareholders has been involved in a long running campaign to get answers to the 2011 licence given to the old Rangers club despite having an outstanding tax bill of £2.8m due to HMRC.
Had the rules been applied properly Celtic would have taken part in the qualifiers or HMRC would have received payment for the outstanding money which related back to the illegal contracts used to pay Ronald de Boer and Tore Andre Flo.
Playing in the 2012/13 Champions League added £24m to Celtic’s turnover compared to the previous season.
Despite their involvement in that issue Rod Petrie and Andrew Dickson are still involved in licensing matters within the SFA.