Lausanne (AFP)
Main organizers of the summer transfer window, opposed Tuesday in the Champions League, Paris SG and Manchester City should continue their rise without budgetary obstacles, given the ongoing transformation of financial fair play (FPF) from UEFA to a "tax luxury".
Adopted in 2010 to curb the debt of European football, the FPF, this limitation of the club deficit, has long curbed the arms race of the two new rich in European football, respectively funded by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, by forcing to display accounts in balance.
Both have escaped exclusion from European competitions - PSG after offering Neymar and Mbappé in the summer of 2017 and Manchester City thanks to its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020 -, threatens well more tangible than a financial sanction for these ogres with unlimited resources.
But the Covid-19 pandemic, by cutting income from European football by more than 8 billion euros in two seasons, has prompted UEFA to relax its rule to avoid increasing the risk of bankruptcy, removing any rigor from fairness. financial play since spring 2020.
PSG superstar strikers Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar during training in Bruges, Belgium, September 14, 2021, on the eve of a Champions League match JOHN THYS AFP / Archives
Faced with the thirst for cash of bloodless clubs, there is no longer any question of hampering investments.
"All the discourse converges on: + Put the money you want +", summarizes to AFP Raffaele Poli, head of the CIES Football Observatory in Neuchâtel.
- Reduced "salary cap" -
And this logic will survive the pandemic: UEFA has announced a complete overhaul of its budgetary rules, via consultations initiated last week and which must continue in November, for a decision no earlier than mid-December.
If the details remain to be negotiated, the main track is known: the quasi-accounting balance imposed by the FPF should be replaced by a cap on the payroll according to the income of each club, of around 70%.
To respect current contracts - the average duration of which exceeds two years - European teams would benefit from a transition period with a gradually lowered threshold - for example to 80%, then 75% of income.
This mechanism, also under study in the French championship, is a softened form of "salary cap" - a key rule of American franchises of hockey, football or basketball, very difficult to import for UEFA: the 55 federations that it oversees obey various social and accounting rules, and there is no centralized negotiation.
Manchester City players congratulate midfielder Riyad Mahrez on his goal in a Champions League match against RB Leipzig in Manchester on September 15, 2021 Oli SCARFF AFP / Archives
In practice, such a rule would only slightly stem the explosion of wages: by representing 64% of club income in 2019, the payroll of European football is already "significantly higher than any other industry", observed UEFA in may.
- New sporting deal -
In addition, for the new rich of European football, the main change is not the expected framework of salaries, but the disappearance of all sporting sanctions: farewell ban from European competitions or ban on recruiting new players.
There would only remain a "luxury tax", announced several times by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin: for each euro of expenditure exceeding the ceiling, the offending clubs will pay the equivalent to the European body, which will distribute this amount. levy between more virtuous clubs.
Admittedly, UEFA is inventing a new redistribution mechanism in this way - unlikely to upset the financial balance, as the expected boost will be modest for each of these beneficiaries.
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola during an English Championship match against Wycombe Wanderers in Manchester on September 21, 2021 Paul ELLIS AFP / Archives
On the sporting side, the new rule does not aim to improve "the competitive balance", warned Aleksander Ceferin, and should not therefore influence the concentration of trophies between a handful of clubs all from major championships.
At a minimum, the ceiling of salaries according to income "will validate the existing hierarchies", since the richest will be the only ones able to attract the best players, underlines Raffaele Poli.
And among the top names, this "luxury tax" even shifts the balance of power: clubs fueled by gas or oil windfall will be able to invest without fear of immediate profitability, while other major Europeans will be limited by their cash flow and their status as associations held by their "socios" (supporters-shareholders), such as Real or Barça, or by their historical attachment to the accounting balance, such as German clubs.
© 2021 AFP