June 28 – Italian giants AC Milan will not play in Europe next season. The club and UEFA have struck a deal that will see the Milanese serve a one-year ban from European football for breaching financial fair play rules, CAS confirmed.
The deal is good and bad news for AC Milan: they will be out of the Europa League next season, but in turn the European governing body will cease its proceedings against the club for overspending between 2016-18. It was the second time Milan had run in to trouble with UEFA over three-year cycles.
Last summer UEFA had slapped the Italians with a two-year ban based on a FFP breach, but the club appealed against the sanction at CAS. They were refereed to UEFA’s financial watchdog. The confederation’s rules don’t allow clubs to aggregate losses of more than €30 million over three seasons. UEFA were of the opinion that Milan did just that by spending €200 million on transfers between 2015 and 2017. It didn’t stop AC Milan from spending some more in 2018.
The Milanese convinced CAS that the new ownership will be more parsimonious – or at least improve their accounting – under the new ownership of American hedge fund Elliott Management Corporation, which replaced previous owner Li Yonghong and has taken control of the club.
Milan’s place in the Europa League is now likely to be taken by Torino. The Turin-based club finished 7th in Serie A.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1713404799labto1713404799ofdlr1713404799owedi1713404799sni@o1713404799fni1713404799