UEFA welcomes decision



A court in Brussels referred the case submitted by several claimants to the ECJ in June and imposed an interim measure blocking UEFA from activating phase two of its rules to cut the deficit clubs are permitted from 45million euros to 30million.

The claimants included Manchester City supporters and Paris St Germain fans as well as Belgian agent Daniel Striani

Manchester City and PSG were both sanctioned by UEFA last season for breaching the FFP rules, which state clubs in European competition must only spend what they earn, with some limited flexibility.

But UEFA has now said that the ECJ has branded the request "manifestly inadmissible" and has reaffirmed its belief that FFP rules are completely legal.

"UEFA notes with satisfaction the ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dated 16 July in which it has declared "manifestly inadmissible" the recent request for a preliminary ruling on the legality of financial fair play made by the Brussels Court of First Instance (BCFI)," read a statement.

"The European Court of Justice declared that request as pointless because the court making it (the BCFI) had already - in June 2015 - declared itself incompetent to rule on the merits of the so-called Striani case.

"The European Court of Justice also observed that the national court had failed to provide any of the necessary information to enable the ECJ to address issues of European competition law.

"The European Court of Justice has therefore had for the first time the opportunity to consider the financial fair play system, and has taken the view that the Striani case orchestrated in Belgium has no merits whatsoever.

"UEFA considers this to be a sensible and logical outcome and takes the opportunity to reaffirm its complete confidence in the legality of financial fair play, a system which is backed by the overwhelming majority of stakeholders in European football and which has, in a short space of time, already delivered real, concrete and tangible results which will help safeguard the future and long-standing prosperity of the game in Europe.

"Financial fair play has also been publicly supported on many occasions by the institutions of the European Union, including the European Parliament and the European Commission."

Source : PA

Source: PA