Financial Fair Play: Can city "Sheikh" off FFP charges?

Take yourself back to the beginning of this season.

Pep’s Manchester City side had completed the domestic treble, wrestling the premier league from Liverpool on the last day of the season. The top 2 tallied a combined 195 points, the most accumulated by 2 teams in premier league history.

Klopp’s Liverpool then triumphed in a roller coaster Champions league campaign. Leicester City, Chelsea & Manchester United also had new managers with Tottenham Hotspur fresh off a silver medal in the champions league at the hands of Liverpool.

A close-run title race seemed inevitable.

However we know that was not the case. Liverpool have run away with the league and are just weeks away from being crowned champions.

City’s season then went from bad to worse. With allegations of breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations against them, a 2 year champions league ban and €30 Million fine was handed to them by UEFA.

A barrage of questions from the media followed.

Was Pep going to leave? Would City be relegated? Would star players Kevin De Bruyne & Raheem Sterling be

off in the summer in search of champions league football?

A cloud currently hangs over the club, but have they been the architects of their own downfall?

What is FFP?

UEFA have put measures in place against all clubs competing in the Champions League & Europa League since 2010.

It states that clubs in these competitions are not permitted to record losses of more than €45 Million over the course of one season. Regardless of whether or not the losses are being bankrolled by the club's owner.

The aim of this was to prevent escalating wages & spending beyond a club’s revenues.

What was it brought in for?

The UEFA website sets out it’s principles and objective of FFP on their website. But they have been dressed up and contain a lot of jargon so I will summarise:

- To make football clubs appear more viable commercially.

- To make sure Football clubs pay their debts.

- Limit spending in the transfer market & on wages.

- Encourage clubs to grow more organically (Spend what you earn)

- Limit the extortionate rise of transfer fees

- Stop clubs stockpiling large contracts of players and coaches that they cannot afford in the long-run.

The word Long-term is a recurring theme which emphasises that FFP is all about safeguarding the future of the sport.

FFP is said to be “One of UEFA’s most ambitious but successful governance projects”

Is it just City?

This is of course not the first run in with UEFA over FFP regulations.

PSG were investigated in 2018 after they were reported to have spent a world record €222 million fee for Neymar from Barcelona. Whilst also completing a loan-to-buy deal for Mbappe worth €180 Million.

It seemed hard to believe that UEFA came to the conclusion that both transactions had been made in accordance with FFP.

Why is it different this time?

The City case seems to be slightly different from that of PSG. The suspicion was not aroused by their spending but instead how they declared their sponsorship revenue.

Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City FC in 2008 and soon after their main sponsor was Etihad airways.

The naming rights to the City of Manchester stadium was awarded to Etihad, as well as the shirt sponsorship.

Between 2012 & 2016 it is believed there is sufficient evidence to suggest City overstated their sponsorship revenue, both in their accounts and the information provided to UEFA.

In 2011 City’s “sponsorship revenue” greatly increased. Der Spiegel reported that leaked internal emails revealed, just €8 Million of the €67.5 Million declared, came from Etihad airways. The rest was believed to be funded by Mansour.

This was done to cover the excessive losses the club was operating at, as a result of high wages and excessive transfer activity.

This case is slightly different to previous investigations as UEFA felt that the club failed to cooperate with their investigation. Providing what is deemed to be falsified financial documents. UEFA believes MCFC’s overstatement to be deceitful.

City’s appeal

Immediately they responded, saying that they would appeal the verdict.

The appeal will be seen by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and MCFC denies any wrongdoing.

It appears to be an attempt for City to bide their time in order to have another crack at winning the Champions League in the 2020/21 campaign.

They will be clear to compete in the 2020/21 competition if their case is still ongoing by the time qualifying for the competition starts. With the ban being enforced from the 2021/22 campaign instead.

The Citizens won’t go down without a fight. Sheikh Mansour appears to be assembling a crack-team of lawyers to fight the charges, adding acclaimed barrister and aptly named David Pannick QC to their entourage.

What’s your view on FFP? Does it help to level the playing field in a climate where more and more money is entering the game. Or is it limiting the potential growth of football in an expanding global market?