What Is Financial Fair Play And How City's Fate In The Champions League

Sterling against Sheffield United (Instagram / @ mancity)

JAKARTA - The European Football Association (UEFA) sentenced Manchester City to a two-season ban from playing in the Champions League for violating Financial Fair Play regulations. What is Financial Fair Play (FFP) and how will this penalty impact English clubs' Champions League quota next season?

Since 2011, UEFA has established FFP as a regulation that aims to limit the dominance of wealthy clubs in the player transfer market. Michel Platini as the initiator of this regulation wants to minimize the impact of economic inequality between European clubs. In addition, Platini also wants to create healthier financial management in every European club.

In principle, the FFP are the rules established to ensure each club balances their balance sheet. Simply put, if Manchester City spend Rp. 100 billion to buy Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo, then Manchester City must be able to make sure they can get that amount of money in one season.

But, of course, you cannot calculate the FFP only from the purchase or sale of players. In the simulation of Messi and Ronaldo, Manchester City does not mean that they have to get Rp1 billion from the sale of players. To balance its balance, Manchester City can rely on other income such as ticket sales, merchandise, commercial rights, sponsorships, or competition prizes.

With this money management, clubs are expected to be more independent, not depending on owner's money, let alone debt. The waste of money from personal pockets made by Roman Abramovich when he acquired Chelsea in 2003 will no longer be repeated. According to FFP, Abramovich and the owners of other European clubs will only play a role in bridging the club's cooperation with third parties.

Roman Abramovich posing at Stamford Bridge (Commons Wikimedia)

Under his supervision, the FFP calculation refers to one season of competition. The UEFA Club Financial Supervisory Body (CFCB) will usually manage reports and provide feedback to the club regarding whether or not the club has committed FFP violations. The report is usually given by the CFCB to clubs in December as a warning.

If a potential breach appears, then the club must immediately fix their finances within six months. The way most clubs do is sell players. Besides being practical, this method is also the fastest choice to avoid UEFA's penalty. The club has nothing to lose. The losses in question include expenses for buying players, salaries for all elements of the club, and other expenses.

Even so, UEFA actually does not tolerate losses at all. Under FFP, UEFA tolerates losses of up to 5 million euros on a quarterly basis. In fact, referring to the calculation of the last three FFP seasons, the club may actually suffer losses of up to 30 million euros. With certain conditions, of course.

Now, clubs are required to spend more wisely. If you plan to spend large sums of money, the club must be able to ensure a substantial income for them. In addition, the club is also required to be more rounded to avoid losses. No wonder. Lately, many teams prefer to borrow players with a purchase option at the end of the loan contract.

This option not only avoids losses, but is also more rational. Clubs can first see how compatible a player is with the game and the club philosophy before actually spending large sums of money to buy that player.

Manchester City

In the Manchester City case, the club owned by Sheikh Mansour was found guilty after the CFCB proved that there was an increase in sponsorship income between 2012 and 2016. This case stems from an investigation by German magazine Der Spiegel.

Der Spiegel publishes emails and documents from Football Leaks. In the e-mail, it was found out that there were allegations of revenue inflation that Manchester City deliberately made to cover up the facts of their imbalanced balance sheet. City had denied the allegations.

Manchester City have said they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for the boycott sentence and 30 million euros in fines inflicted on them. Cityzens - the club's nickname - hopes that CAS can partially annul or even completely cancel UEFA's penalty.

House of UEFA, Nyon, Switzerland (uefa.com)

The club based at the Etihad Stadium has insisted on denying the allegations. They even accused UEFA for not carrying out the investigation process with the correct procedures. Cityzens claims to have evidence to suggest that the investigator's decision was issued even before the investigation began.

"Manchester City are disappointed but not surprised by today's announcement by UEFA's Financial Controlling Body ... The club has always anticipated the ultimate need to find an independent body and an impartial process, taking into account a comprehensive body to corroborate incontrovertible evidence to support the position," reads the release. club official.

"Simply put, this is a case initiated by UEFA, prosecuted by UEFA and decided by UEFA. With the process now over, the club will seek an independent assessment as quickly as possible and therefore, in the first stage, will initiate proceedings with the Court of Arbitration for Sport on occasion. earliest, "connected.

Champions League quota

Currently, Manchester City is still ranked second in the Premier League. UEFA's punishment will clearly hurt Pep Guardiola's squad. Although second place is still in contention, the remaining 13 matches are actually enough to ensure Manchester City's position in the Champions League zone.

The loss of Manchester City, in contrast, is an advantage for other English clubs who are in the middle board. Losing a place in the Champions League zone will make Manchester City be replaced by a club that is in fifth place in the Premier League final standings. Then, who is the club?

The possibilities are of course still many. However, promoted club Sheffield United have the most chances, at least until today. Sheffield is now in fifth place in the standings with 39 points collected from 26 matches. However, the Sheffield road is not easy.

Sheffield United against Manchester City (Instagram / @ sheffieldunited)

The team nicknamed The Blades must continue to keep their distance from the pursuit of strong clubs such as Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Wolverhampton Wanderers, to the big club Manchester United, who are still shuffling in the middle of the standings with another big club, Arsenal.

The distance of each team is very close. Sheffield is only two points adrift of Spurs, three points from Wolves and Everton, and four points from Manchester United. Arsenal are also a threat. With 13 games remaining, Arsenal, who are now entrenched in tenth position in the standings with 31 points, are still very likely to replace Shefield.