Financial Fair Play unfair, PSG president says
Paris Saint- Germain president Nasser Al Khelaifi told AFP on Tuesday that Financial Fair Play is “unfair” after a summer in which the French champions were hit with sanctions for breaching Uefa’s regulations.
“For me, FFP is unfair. It stops new investors from coming into football,” said Al Khelaifi, who became PSG president after Qatar Sports Investments bought the French capital club in 2011.
QSI sanctioned the spending of huge sums in the transfer market in their first three summers at the Parc des Princes in a bid to turn the club into one of Europe’s biggest, culminating in the € 64 million ( Dh309 million) recruitment of Edinson Cavani from Napoli in July 2013.
But in May, PSG, along with Premier League champions Manchester City, were slapped with a fine of € 60 million for breaching FFP regulations, namely accruing losses in excess of the € 45- million limit over the course of the past two seasons.
The French champions also agreed not to increase their wage bill for the next two campaigns and to “significantly limit spending” in the transfer market while curbing losses to no more than € 30 million next year.
That compromises their chances of competing in the Champions League against the financial might of the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and the cash- rich giants of the English Premier League.
‘ Not good for the game’
“It protects the big clubs and obliges the smaller ones to remain small clubs,” Al Khelaifi continued. “If investors are prevented from coming into football, theywill invest in Formula One or elsewhere.
“It is not good for football. We are ready to work within the rules but I hope Uefa are going to change it next year because a lot of clubs have complained. I hope a solution can be found.”
Ironically, FFP makes it practically impossible for clubs within France to compete with PSG’s strength domestically as Laurent Blanc’s side chase a third consecutive Ligue 1 title.
Just a year ago, Monaco splashed out over € 150 million in the transfer market, the majority going on signing Colombian stars James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao.
That saw them emerge as a genuine threat to PSG’s hegemony, but Russian billionaire owner Dimitri Rybolovlev has now reined in his spending, with the need to adhere to FFP cited as the principal reason.