NYON: UEFA on Friday fined both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain 60 million euros ($82 million, £49 million) and capped their Champions League squads to 21 for falling foul of financial fair play rules.
Newly-crowned English Premier League champions, Manchester City enjoyed a massive spending spree under billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi.
And French Ligue 1 champions PSG have benefitted from similar investment in top-drawer players after their takeover by Qatar Sports Investments in late 2012.
But both clubs have paid for that with massive fines, 40 million euros of which will be repaid should the clubs fulfil the “operational and financial measures agreed with the UEFA CFCB (Club Financial Control Body)”.
UEFA said other clubs to have failed the financial fairplay rules were Turkish trio Buraspor, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor, Russian sides Zenit St Petersburg, Anzhi Makhachkala and Rubin Kazan, and Levski Sofia from Bulgaria.
Both City and PSG battled UEFA through to the end, the former arguing there had been “a fundamental disagreement” over the interpretation of the FFP regulations on players purchased before 2010 but that it had “decided to enter into a compromise agreement with UEFA”.
They agreed, the statement read, to limit their net spending on new players to 60 million euros.
“The club’s expenditure on new players for the upcoming summer transfer window, on top of income from players it might sell, will be limited to 60m euros. This will have no material impact on the club’s planned transfer activity,” City said. (Agencies)
