It had been announced for a while, now it’s official: financial fair play has a new look. And with this new version, clubs get much greater freedom to spend all the time and even more. A blessing for Paris Saint-Germain, who are struggling to renew their star Kylian Mbappe.
From next June it will be an open door to the European transfer market. UEFA presented its new version of financial fair play on Thursday. Say goodbye to auditing and the ban on spending more than you earn. Make way for more freedom and less braking. In short, the clubs, which have all suffered from the health crisis, will be able to spend as much as they want, provided they respect a ceiling on their overall budget.
Lifting of sporting sanctions
Salaries, transfer fees and brokerage commissions may not exceed 90% of the budget from next season. In order to allow clubs to adjust and update their contracts, this threshold will gradually decrease to 80% in 2024-2025 and then to 70% in 2025-2026. In other words, they still have three years before they undergo this symbolic ceiling. Another point of attachment, the possibility of debt, if it was secured by the shareholder, is doubled over three years. From 30 million euros to today, this will increase to 60 million euros.
The last important point, and not the least, the sporting sanctions are abolished. No more risk of being banned from the Champions League or being able to sign up only 22 players instead of 25, or even being banned from transfer. Now it becomes a matter of paying if you want to catch up. A simple fine is imposed, luxury taxthe collected amounts are then redistributed in balance among healthy clubs, which will respect the new rules.
A new light version in favor of PSG
Studying this update clearly makes us realize how much it will serve Paris Saint-Germain, who are currently struggling to expand Kylian Mbappe, even if it means blowing the bill. Some would even speak of a colossal contract with a signing bonus of 150 million euros. In the past we would have said impossible. The Club’s financial control body is said to have had its say and prevented the Paris team from spending that much, especially after the arrival of Lionel Messi last season. But now things are changing.
A club that can claim a turnover of more than 600 million euros has the right to spend 90% of this capital on salaries and transfer costs. So they can break the bank. In addition to the 300 million payroll already reached this year, they will still be able to add more than 200 million euros to their expenses. And even if they cross this threshold, they will simply have to pay a fine for slipping through the cracks. Then, even if the ceiling were to drop, it’s only from 2025-2026, when we’re talking about a two-year contract for Mbappe. Magnificently. It is clear that it is a new financial fair play that will serve the interests of PSG.
PSG, Trojan Horse of Liberalism?
And we have the right to say that Nasser al-Khelaïfi has something to do with it. The new thinking head of European football, president of the ECA, the club union and new best friend of Aleksander Čeferin, is said to have pushed for such a reform. While it was clear that he would be part of the dissident clubs, supporters of the European Superleague, all Football Leaks documents had updated plans as early as 2016, including Paris Saint-Germain in a private league and autonomous, last April, reversal of the situation : Nasser al-Khelaifi’s PSG will not be there.
On the contrary, he approached UEFA, which had already sanctioned him twice in the past, and was elected chairman of the powerful union. Behind the scenes, many admit it was part of a well-executed plan: getting closer to the authorities, showing how close it is to traditional, meritocratic, popular football, with the sole aim of changing it from within. Once chosen, the financial fair play changes and is greatly reduced. Ditto on the competition side, with the Champions League changing and turning into a hybrid system, with seats offered on the UEFA coefficient. The climax was also reached when the PSG chairman told The Athletic in an interview with British media that he wanted to draw inspiration from the NFL and the Super Bowl to improve the image of the Champions League and ask questions about its accessibility. of matches for other continents, especially in time zones.
It seems that Nasser al-Khelaifi is proposing a worse philosophy than that advocated by the neoliberal and globalist Superleague supporters. To be honest, we don’t really see what’s popular in this version of football.
By Pierre Rondeau
