A guide to Financial Fair Play and the ability of European football clubs to raise finance (Part 1)

This article was first published in February 2013 and last updated on 14 May 2020.

Since their inception in 2010, UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations[1] (the UEFA FFP Regulations) have been adapted and the football financing landscape has changed quite significantly. This two part article provides an update on the current scope of the UEFA FFP Regulations and, in particular, how the regulatory landscape provided by the UEFA FFP Regulations (and their domestic equivalents) helps (or hinders) football clubs’ ability to raise finance.   Part 1 of the article, below, examines:

• The history of the UEFA FFP Regulations
• The key components of the UEFA FFP Regulations
  • Monitoring period
  • Overdue payables
  • Acceptable deviation and equity contributions
  • Excluded expenditure Amortisation
• Sanctions by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body
• Equivalent requirements and sanctions in FIFA’s RSTP
• Domestic “profitability and sustainability” regulations of the English Premier League and English Football League
• COVID-19 – the implications of coronavirus

Part 2, (available here), moves on to discuss the implications of the UEFA FFP Regulations on the ability of European football clubs to raise finance and the means by which they can.