Top Story: Huge Side Hit with $ 2.2M Fine & European Ban Warning: Financial Crackdown Strikes Again!

GENEVA (AP) — UEFA has handed Roma a fine of 2 million euros ( $ 2.22 million) and issued a warning to Istanbul Basaksehir, threatening a one-year ban from European competitions following the latest assessments by club finance investigators on Friday.

Basaksehir received a fine of 100,000 euros ( $ 111,000) as well.

Additionally, Aston Villa was fined 60,000 euros ( $66,500),andMarseillefacedapenaltyof20,000euros($ 22,100) for delays in submitting financial reports to the monitoring system previously known as “Financial Fair Play.”

Villa will participate in this season’s Champions League, potentially earning at least 40 million euros ( $ 44 million) in UEFA prize money. Marseille, which had already been fined by UEFA in 2022, did not qualify for any UEFA competition after reaching the semifinals of the Europa League last season.

FFP was introduced by UEFA in 2009 to foster financial stability in elite European soccer by assessing the revenue and expenditure of clubs eligible for its competitions. It was revised two years ago and rebranded as “Financial Sustainability.”

Critics of the system argue that it restricts investment from wealthy owners of emerging teams aiming to compete with established elite clubs, and that it has not effectively deterred state-backed clubs like Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

Last season, UEFA mandated that clubs limit their spending on wages and transfer fees to no more than 90% of their revenue. This “squad cost rule” is set to be gradually implemented over three seasons, eventually lowering the cap to 70%.

“All clubs reported a squad cost ratio within the 90% limit for the 2023-24 season,” UEFA stated.

PSG, Inter Milan, and AC Milan were among those fined in previous years, but they met their financial targets last season, according to UEFA.

Roma “slightly exceeded the intermediate target” and received a fine, with the club set to compete in the Europa League this season, which offers potential prize money in the tens of millions of euros.

UEFA’s club finance monitoring panel found that Basaksehir “slightly breached the final target” last season.

As a result, the Turkish club will be excluded from the next UEFA competition for which it qualifies within the next three seasons unless it meets new financial benchmarks. Additionally, Basaksehir will be limited to registering 23 senior players instead of 25 in this season’s third-tier Conference League.