Financial Fair Play Regulations are approved

UEFA's Executive Committee has today unanimously approved the new UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations, submitted to the committee with the support of all stakeholders in European football.

After a phased implementation over three years – 2010, 2011 and 2012 –  the main cornerstone of the regulations, the break-even requirement, enters into force for the financial statements of the reporting period ending 2012, to be assessed during the 2013/14 UEFA club competition season.

Commenting on this key decision for the future well-being of European football, UEFA president Michel Platini said: "We have worked on the financial fair play concept hand-in-hand with the clubs, as our intention is not to punish them but to protect them. We have an agreement with the clubs. The philosophy is that you cannot spend more money than you generate.

"This approval today is the start of an important journey for European football's club finances as we begin to put stability and economic common sense back into football. I thank all the stakeholders who have supported this along the way."

The chairman of the European Club Association (ECA), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, said: "This really is a huge achievement. On behalf of the European Club Association, I would like to thank UEFA and especially Michel Platini for his initiative that goes, I believe, in the right direction.

"After only two years of existence, the European Club Association has managed, together with UEFA, to set measures that will shape the future of European club football into a more responsible business and ultimately a more sustainable one. As clubs, by fully supporting these Financial Fair Play Regulations, we have agreed to change the way we operate, and that is a substantial step forward."

The full UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations, edition 2010, will be published in June and will be available on UEFA.com. Clubs will be assessed on a risk basis, taking into account debts and salary levels, as well as the following main pillars:

• Break-even requirement – clubs must not spend more than they generate over a period of time
• No overdues payable during the season – towards other clubs, employees and/or social/tax authorities
• Provision of future financial information – to ensure clubs can meet their future obligations

The independent Club Financial Control Panel, chaired by Jean-Luc Dehaene, will be responsible for the monitoring process in terms of assessing the documentation submitted by the licensor and, if necessary, requesting additional information.

The UEFA Executive Committee also agreed to propose to FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB), following the IFAB's approval on 18 May of a further two years of experimentation with two extra additional assistant referees, that the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League as of the play-offs (the last qualifying round before the group stage), the UEFA Europa League as from the group stage, the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying phase and final tournament, and the 2010 UEFA Super Cup, be used for further trials of the two additional assistant referees system.

With regard to the Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship, 2010-12 competition, the Executive Committee agreed to amend article 7.07 of the UEFA EURO 2012 regulations by deleting the provision that the seeded teams play the return match at home, and have replaced it with a draw to establish the order of matches.

As a reminder, for the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying competition, the 51 participating teams have been drawn into six groups of six teams and three groups of five teams. The nine group winners and the best runner-up will qualify directly for the final tournament. The additional four sides that will participate in the finals will be determined by play-off games between the eight remaining runners-up.

In other decisions taken today, the following items were all approved:

• The final-round match schedule for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, 2009-11 competition, amended to start on Saturday 11 June 2011, instead of Sunday 12 June, allowing for an additional extra rest day between matchdays 2 and 3
• The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, 2009-11 competition, play-off and final draw procedures to take place this year on 10 September in Herning and on 9 November in Aalborg, Denmark, respectively
• Regulations of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, 2010/11 competition
• Regulations of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, 2010/11 competition
• Regulations of the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship, 2010/11 competition
• Regulations of the UEFA European Women’s Under-17 Championship, 2010/11 competition
• Regulations of the UEFA European Futsal Championship, 2011/12 competition

The second day of the Executive Committee meeting takes place on Friday at the Espace Hippomène in Geneva, with the announcement of the host association of UEFA EURO 2016 to be made at 13.00CET by the UEFA president. This will be followed by a press conference.