Manchester City Accept Hefty Fine for Financial Fair Play Breach

May 19, 2014

Premier league champions Manchester City have accepted a £49m fine from UEFA after breaching the Financial Fair play rules.

The agreement with the European football’s Club Financial Control Body also included a cut in their Champions League squad to 21 players and a ban on increasing their wages for at least a year.

Man City joins Paris St-Germain, who were given a similar penalty, and seven other clubs, including Russia’s Zenit St petersburg, Turkey’s Galatassaray and Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia, in accepting the first wave of FFP sanctions.
A stetement on City’s website said: “The club can confirm that it has been in discussions with UEFA over the last month – in relation to the application of Financial Fair Play regulations – as has been widely reported and communicated by UEFA.

“At the heart of those discussions is a fundamental disagreement between the club’s and UEFA’s respective interpretations of the FFP regulations on players purchased before 2010.

“The club believes it has complied with the FFP regulations on this and all other matters. The club’s expenditure on new players for the upcoming summer transfer window, on top of income from players it might sell, will be limited to 60m euros.”

City have agreed to cut the losses to a maximum of £16.3m for the 2013-14 financial year and £8.2m loss for the 2014-15 season.