UEFA scared of the rich English Clubs ?

[1960maaan]

 

Personally, I think something is needed, but I do wonder if it was 6 Spanish/Italian Clubs dominating the top 10 rich list would they bother. 
I'm no expert, but non French Monaco players don't pay tax. Didn't Barcelona sell their training ground to the local authorities but still keep it , plus they signed player they weren't even able to register. Anyway, if the same rules were enforced throughout football, I think that would be good, but it has to been evenly administered across all Federations. 

Uefa wants a cap on the total amount that clubs can spend on player wages and transfers in a single season and is working on a proposal that could satisfy the European Union.

The plan, which is being assessed by a new working party for European football, comes amid fears that English clubs could become even more financially dominant under Uefa’s new Financial Sustainability Regulations (FSR), which from this year will restrict clubs’ spending to a percentage of their annual revenue.

If approved, the cap would run alongside the new regulations, under which clubs in European competition are only allowed to spend 90 per cent of revenues on wages and transfers in 2023, dropping to 80 per cent next year and 70 per cent in 2025.

Some leading continental clubs have pointed out that the FSR could perpetuate the financial dominance of English clubs, who make up six of the top ten richest teams, and 16 of the top 30. The Premier League has also become the biggest force in the international transfer market.

The solution being favoured by Uefa’s leaders is for a fixed cap every season to run alongside FSR, setting a cash limit on the amount that clubs can spend on wages, transfers and agents’ fees — similar to the hard cap in operation in the NFL in the US, where teams can spend a maximum of $224.8 million on player contracts. The transfer cost is assessed by Uefa on amortisation, which is the transfer fee spread out over the length of the contract up to a maximum of five years.

No absolute level for a cap has been discussed but if approved it would mean that a club could not spend more than the cash limit, even if it was within the 70 per cent of total revenue.

A senior source told The Times that Uefa believe the plan is “the solution” to the issue and was “working on it” to ensure it could get EU approval, but that may mean having to get the agreement of all of European football’s stakeholders. Although the European Club Association (ECA) headed by the Paris Saint-Germain president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, is understood to be in broad agreement, the European Leagues and players’ union Fifpro have concerns.

The plan has been submitted to a new working group set up to examine ways of increasing the sustainability and competitiveness of European football, and it has been given the task of exploring the cap. The working group includes representatives from Uefa, the ECA, the European Leagues and Fifpro.

It is also looking at the impact of different corporation tax levels in different countries, as that could have a big effect on how much clubs have to spend — for example, the tax large firms have to pay is 13 per cent in Switzerland, 25 per cent in the UK and 27.5 per cent in France.

Last month Aleksander Ceferin, the Uefa president, hinted at the possibility of imposing a fixed spending limit, telling the US media outlet Men In Blazers that “in the future we have to seriously think about a salary cap”.

Ceferin referenced concerns over “competitive balance”, adding: “It’s not about the owners, it’s about the value of the competition, because if five clubs will always win then it doesn’t make sense any more.”

The Professional Footballers’ Association’s chief executive, Maheta Molango, said last month that players would “rightly be angry” about any move towards a salary cap. He added: “Football’s leaders are quickly going to create a real problem if they continue to treat players like this.”

Spending caps in sport

Premiership Rugby £5 million squad salary rising to £6.4 million in the 2024-25 season. Excludes salaries for two “marquee” players

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Rugby league RFL Teams are limited to a squad salary cap of £2.1 million per season, with two marquee players who can be paid up to £150,000

American football’s NFL A hard cap sets the maximum an NFL team can spend on player contracts (including base salary and bonuses) at $224.8 million (about £181.7 million)

Basketball’s NBA Has a soft salary cap of $123.7 million (about £100 million) per team. Teams which breach the cap have to pay a luxury tax and have reduced privileges when it comes to signing players

Football EFL clubs agreed a squad salary cap of £1.5 million in League Two and £2.5 million in League One but this was scrapped in 2021 after a challenge from the PFA