Manchester United and Barcelona have been slapped with significant fines for breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules for violations between 2019 and 2022.
United have been fined €300,000 and Barcelona €500,000 based on UEFA’s previous FFP rules, ahead of new regulations set to be introduced next season.
Europe’s governing body of football announced the decision on Friday following the end of the ‘monitoring’ during the 2022/23 campaign, covering the period from 2019 to 2022.
United’s offence was reporting ‘minor break-even deficits’. The club’s losses for the financial year fell beyond UEFA’s requirement, and they released a statement in response:
“While disappointed by the outcome, Manchester United accepts this fine for what UEFA acknowledges to be a minor technical breach of its previous Financial Fair Play rules.
“This reflected a change in the way that UEFA adjusted for COVID-19 losses during the 2022 reporting period, which allowed us to recognise only €15m of the €281m of revenues lost due to the pandemic within the FFP calculation.
“Post-pandemic, the clubs’ revenues have recovered strongly and are forecast to reach a record level in the current financial year. The club continues to support the enforcement of rules to promote financial fair play and sustainability across domestic and European football.”
The CFCB First Chamber has announced a series of decisions involving clubs subject to FFP monitoring in the 2022/23 season: ⬇️
— UEFA (@UEFA) July 14, 2023
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The Red Devils stand by their view that the fine is in relation to past issues and older FFP rules, so fans of the club will be encouraged to hear it shouldn’t impact this summer’s transfer budget as United look to complete deals for Andre Onana and more.
Barcelona were fined for ‘wrongly reporting’ profits on non-player sales in 2022 ‘which are not a relevant income under the regulations’.
Other clubs to be fined by UEFA include Porto and Anderlecht, but the likes of AC Milan, PSG, Roma, Monaco, Inter Milan, Besiktas and Marseille narrowly escaped punishment. UEFA said it ‘will continue to monitor their compliance with the settlement agreement during next season’.
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