Will UEFA be able to enforce Platini’s “financial fair play” initiative?
Juan Carlos, Seattle I think there’s currently a lot of skepticism surrounding this issue. Much of that is UEFA’s own fault. Whenever they say they’re going to act on a certain problem, they rarely ever deliver. Just this week they bailed on their plan to rid the continent of diving; they didn’t deliver any meaningful punishment to the Italian clubs that were found guilty of corruption in 2006, and they’ve done absolutely nothing about match-fixing. So you can see why their new “financial fair play” initiative is being met with little more than raised eyebrows. That said, financial standards are not at all difficult to enforce. Germany already does it—requiring each of their domestic clubs to spend only what they bring in—no more. UEFA president Michel Platini would like to see similar legislation blanket the entire continent. He believes—and he’s incorrect in doing so—that tough spending rules would create more competitive leagues. In reality, it would only make the likes of Mancheste
