UEFA issue fines to Barcelona and Man Utd for FFP breaches | OneFootball

UEFA has imposed fines of €300,000 on Manchester United and €500,000 on Barcelona due to their violation of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.

According to The Athletic, UEFA announced the punishment on Friday after completing their investigation into the clubs’ affairs stretching between 2019 and 2022.

In anticipation of new regulations expected to kick in next season, both penalties were based on UEFA’s previous FFP rules, issuing fines to Man Utd and Barcelona for the wrongdoings made under the old legislation.

United committed an offence by reporting ‘minor break-even deficits,’ indicating that their financial losses for the fiscal year transcended UEFA’s stipulated requirement.

Shortly after the announcement of the sentence, the Old Trafford outfit released a statement to explain the reasons behind UEFA’s decision to hand out a €300,000 fine.

“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,” Man Utd’s response read.

“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.”

Unlike Man Utd, Barcelona’s committed a more serious violation as they ‘wrongly reported’ profits on non-player sales during the 2022 financial year.

UEFA’s latest verdict is the last thing the Catalans need amid Joan Laporta’s desperate attempts to bring the club back within FFP’s parameters.

However, the two continental heavyweights are not the only clubs sentenced by the European football’s governing body, with Anderlecht and Porto encountering the same fate.

AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Roma and several others have had better luck as they dodged the bullet this time.