Milan CEO Ivan Gazidis welcomes the new UEFA FFP regulations, noting that ‘after the failure of the Super League, we need to create an open and constructive environment based on transparency and trust.’
It was announced today that UEFA were replacing the Financial Fair Play rules after 15 years, bringing in a salary cap so a club cannot spend more than 70 per cent of their revenue on football expenses.
In Serie A, only Milan and Atalanta effectively meet those standards at the moment, so many have complained it risks further strengthening those clubs with the biggest revenue.
It will come into effect when the new format of the Champions League is also launched in the 2024-25 campaign.
“The new rules represent a significant evolution of the previous Financial Fair Play structure,” said Milan CEO Gazidis in a statement.
“It is clear that creating a financially sustainable model for European football remains a critically important objective and we hope that, after the period of transition from the previous system, the new rules will be strongly enforced to ensure that they can help drive us towards this ambition.
“As a Club, our strategy has financial sustainability at its core and we are already taking steps to ensure that we will be in full compliance with the new rules.
“We are actively engaging in discussions with UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body around the Club’s financial performance in recent years. We are confident of a successful outcome to these discussions given the significant progress that we have made with our sporting and financial turnaround thanks to the support of our ownership and the hard work of our management team.
“We are all aware that pressures within the ecosystem of European football have been building, exacerbated by the financial implications of the pandemic. Despite these challenges, we have a great opportunity in front of us to drive positive change.
“The failure of the Super League demonstrated that the only way to do this successfully is by creating an open and constructive environment based on transparency, dialogue and trust.
“We have had positive and broad-ranging discussions with UEFA about the future development of the game and look forward to continuing to develop our strong relationship with its leadership in future.”
Ivan Gazidis comments on the new Financial Sustainability Regulations ➡️ https://t.co/0Kfz12xr9z
Nuovo Regolamento di Sostenibilità Finanziaria, il commento di Ivan Gazidis ➡️ https://t.co/BAT6LmgUOz#SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/zqfpqWvSTk
— AC Milan (@acmilan) April 7, 2022
It will mean players at the higher end of the salary spectrum will have to accept lower salaries. Due to the inflationary effect of the English clubs and non-revenue based cash injections of the oligarch clubs, salaries and transfer fees have skyrocketed in the last 15 years. It’s unfortunately, it’s unlikely that players will readily accept lowering their wages. Once you open the box, there is no easy way to close it back up.