Liverpool could have Champions League prize money withheld pending a UEFA inquiry into a possible breach of Financial Fair Play regulations, according to a report in today’s Times.
Last season’s Premier League runners-up, who returned to Europe’s elite competition this season after a five-year absence, would usually expect the payment to be made next month, but that is now in jeopardy after the club posted losses of £49.8m for the 2012-13 financial year, after a loss of £41m for a 10-month period up to May 2012.
Under FFP rules, clubs are not allowed to post a loss of more than £35.4m over a three year period.
Clubs that did not qualify for the Champions League or the Europa League last season were not required to submit financial details for 2011-12 and 2012-13 to UEFA’s monitoring body, but having qualified for the Champions League last season, they are now subject to FFP regulations.
The Times report, quotes Andrea Traverso, head of Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play at UEFA as saying: “As soon as a club qualifies (for a UEFA competition), it enters the scope of Financial Fair Play,”
“So they have to immediately submit all the information to UEFA.”
Earlier this year, Manchester City and PSG were fined €60 million (£48.9 million) for breaching UEFA’s financial fair play rules, while having their squad size for this season’s Champions League limited to 21 players.
Turkish club Galatasaray plus Russian sides Zenit St Petersburg and Anzhi Makhachkala were amongst those who also suffered punishments.
While UEFA only allows a €45m loss over three seasons, the rules in the Premier League give a lot more leeway, with a loss of £105m permitted over a three season period.
