September 27 – Paris St Germain, under scrutiny by UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) for its financial year to the end of the 2018 season, looks to have moved to attempt to protect its position from UEFA sanction by arranging a capital injection of €316 million from the club’s Qatar Sports Investment owners.
UEFA recently cleared PSG of any potential Financial Fair Play penalty for the 2015 to 2017 period but said that the 2017/18 was still “under close scrutiny”. This was the season the club committed to spending €400 million for Neymar and Kylian Mbappé.
That spending immediately brought widespread European criticism and accusations that it was distorting the economic and competitive balance of the club game, and accusations of financial doping from outspoken LaLiga president Javier Tebas.
A capital injection into the club offsets any financial concern over the on-going health and sustainability of the club (though that was never in any real doubt) and, in light of the recent ruling on AC Milan who were readmitted to the Europa League this season having shown a new management and financial plan to satisfy UEFA’s investigators, could similarly convince UEFA of responsible financial management. Certainly UEFA will have to act in an even-handed manner regarding their rulings.
But whether it is enough to satisfy UEFA financial breakeven rules remains to be seen. Critics will call it financial engineering. Accountants will call it a sensible protection of the business. French football fans will look at PSG’s 8 point Ligue1 lead after seven games and wonder if they will ever be beaten again in France.
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