Financial Fair Play

What is Financial Fair Play

The Financial Fair Play Regulations were made in order to stop football teams from spending more than they earn in pursuit of success so that these clubs can maintain a long-term future in the game.

The regulations, agreed in principle in 2009, are currently applied to UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League), the Premiership, the Championship and Leagues 1 and 2. For UEFA competitions a club can make losses of up to €45 million over 3 seasons if the owner provides equity for the club. If not a club can only make €5 million losses over 3 seasons. However, this only applies to 3 seasons of being involved in said competitions. The difference for the BPL is that a club can make £105 million losses over 3 seasons if the owner provides equity for the club and £15 million over 3 seasons if the owner doesn't. Also, 

BPL clubs can only be given a points deduction. For UEFA competitions the punishments are as follows:

1. A warning
2. A reprimand
3. A fine
4. A deduction of points
5. the withholding of revenues from a UEFA competition
6. the prohibiting of registering new players for UEFA competitions
7. the restriction on the number of players that a club may register for a UEFA competition
8. disqualification from UEFA competitions and bans from future UEFA competitions (eg: Malaga)
9. the withdrawal of a title or award 

What this means is that clubs in Europe are being asked to curb their spending so that these clubs remain economically secure in their long-term futures.