UEFA fined Manchester United and Barcelona for breaching the FFP

Manchester United and Barcelona have been fined €300,000 (£257,000, $337,000) and €500,000 for breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

UEFA announced the decision on Friday after the end of “monitoring” during the 2022-23 season, which covered the period from 2019 through 2022. These penalties were handed down based on previous UEFA FFP rules, with new regulations coming from next season. .

United’s offense was to report a “slight draw deficit”, meaning their losses for the financial year had exceeded UEFA’s requirements.

“Although disappointed with the result, Manchester United accepts this fine for what UEFA recognizes as a minor technical breach of the previous Financial Fair Play rules,” a statement from United read.

“This reflects a change in the way UEFA adjusted for COVID-19 losses during the 2022 reporting period, allowing us to recognize only €15m of the €281m of revenue lost due to the pandemic under the FFP account.

“Following the pandemic, club revenues have rebounded strongly and are expected to reach a record high in the current financial year. The club continues to support the enforcement of the rules to promote financial fair play and sustainability across domestic and European football.”

United confirm the fine is linked to past cases and the old FFP rules, meaning it will not affect this summer’s transfer budget.

Barcelona, ​​meanwhile, has been fined for “falsely reporting” profits from non-player sales during the 2022 financial year “which are not considered relevant income under the regulations”.

Porto and Anderlecht were among the other clubs fined by UEFA, while AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Roma, Monaco, Inter Milan, Besiktas and Marseille avoided penalties.

(Photo: Katherine Ivel/Getty Images)