Aston Villa have been fined €60,000 (£50,670; $66,430) by UEFA for the alleged late submission of their financial information for the 2023-24 season.
Roma have been hit harder in the pocket, to the tune of €2m (£1.7m; $2.2m) for failing to meet their financial fair play (FFP) targets for the financial year ending June 2023.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) met this week to assess clubs against the newly-introduced squad cost rule (SCR) for the first time.
The rule dictates that a club’s total expenditure on transfers, wages and agent fees cannot exceed a certain percentage of its revenue. For the 2023-24 season this was 90 per cent, but this will decrease to 80 per cent for the 2024-25 campaign and then 70 per cent from 2025 onwards.
All clubs reported a squad cost ratio within the 90 per cent limit but Villa and Marseille were penalised for submitting this late, with the Ligue 1 side incurring a €20,000 (£16,890; $22,140) fine.
Failure to meet the submission deadline is a breach of article 95 of UEFA’s club licensing and financial sustainability regulations.
The Athletic has contacted Villa for comment.
Villa’s transfer window activity this summer was heavily impacted by the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR), with the club forced to sell homegrown players to avoid sanctions.
Speaking this week about UEFA’s SCR and the Premier League’s PSR, Villa’s director of football Damian Vdiagany said: “They (SCR and PSR) are two different parcels in two different hands. SCR forces you to sell expensive players. For instance, to decrease our ratio of cost, we had a great deal that was (Moussa) Diaby to Al Ittihad. Even though he cost a lot, the fact we sold him for big money means we don’t have a big profit. So we have to sell expensive players.
“But if you want to stick to PSR, you have to sell cheaper players and academy players. It’s almost impossible to match both. The EPL is not aligned with UEFA rules.“
Roma, meanwhile, had been placed under a four-year settlement agreement by UEFA last year after failing to fulfil the governing body’s former FFP break-even requirement, which has been replaced by the football earning rule and SCR.
Roma ”slightly“ exceeded their financial targets for 2023 and were subsequently fined.
The Serie A club posted profits in the transfer market for 2022-23 and 2023-24, before recording a net loss of €64m in transfer spend this summer, according to Transfermarkt.
Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus, Monaco, Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain were all also placed under settlement agreements by UEFA last year after failing to meet FFP targets, but none have been fined this time around as the CFCB continues to monitor their progress.
Istanbul Basaksehir, however, failed to meet their financial target for the 2023-24 season and could face a one-year suspension from UEFA club competitions if they fail to comply with FFP regulations during the 2024-25 campaign.
(Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
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