In a meeting held in Monaco, the EPFL representatives at the UEFA Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC) have expressed unanimous support to new concept of Financial Fair Play for UEFA club competitions. The resolution, which was approved by all members of the PFSC, shall now be submitted to the UEFA Executive Committee at its forthcoming meeting in Nyon on the 14th and 15th of September.
The PFSC is composed of representatives from the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), the players (FIFPro Europe), the clubs (ECA) and the UEFA vice-presidents.
The main purpose of the Financial Fair Play concept is to improve the financial fairness in European competitions and the long-term stability of club football across Europe. In order to achieve this purpose a set of measures will be put in place including: the obligation for clubs whose turnover is over a certain threshold, over a period of time, to balance their books, or "break even" (i.e. clubs cannot repeatedly spend more than the generated revenues); to provide guidance on salaries and transfer spending; to provide an indicator on the sustainability of the levels of debt; and the obligation for clubs to honour their commitments at all times.
These measures, which are solely focused for UEFA competitions, are expected to reach beyond the current UEFA club licensing system and aim to stimulate long term investment (youth development and upgrading of sporting facilities) over short term speculative spending and adherence to the rules will be assessed by the recently formed independent Club Financial Control Panel.
Concrete measures on financial fair play shall now be tailored by an expert working group throughout the season, in close consultation and cooperation with the key stakeholders, before reaching final consensus. Those measures are expected to be introduced in UEFA competitions starting from the season 2012/13 and, among others will also include a proposal to limit the size of squads, which in turn will help clubs to limit their expenditure on salaries and transfers.
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