Uefa FFP victory over Barcelona on TV income rings alarm bells for Premier League clubs

Ruling is a blow for cash-strapped Barcelona and could also prove damaging to Chelsea’s recent hotel ‘sales’ deal

Uefa has won a major financial fair play (FFP) ruling against Barcelona which will have an impact on spending controls in European football, including Premier League clubs who want to play in Uefa competitions.
The Catalan club have lost an appeal against the Uefa financial control decision to fine them €500,000 (£416,000) for submitting revenue from the sale of future television rights as FFP-compliant income. 
The judgment by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) was scathing about Barcelona’s attempt to redefine the nature of €267 million (£226 million) of revenue against even the advice of the club’s auditors.
It now looks likely that Barcelona will fail to meet FFP requirements for the 2023-2024 season, with Uefa having withheld its judgment pending the result of the Cas arbitration.
Over June and July 2022, Barcelona sold off 25 per cent of their future broadcast-rights income from La Liga for the next 25 years over two tranches to US investor Sixth Street for a total, the Cas judgment said, of €667.5 million (£555 million). 
However, only part of that, the first sale in June, a 10 per cent tranche worth €267 million was included in Barcelona’s FFP submission for the 2022-2023 season.
Barcelona was told by Uefa that the €267 million would not be considered what Uefa terms “relevant income” for FFP purposes. The club were offered what amounted to a plea deal, which would have included an €80,000 (£67,000) fine and an assurance not to submit the Sixth Street sale of future income as FFP-compliant revenue. Barcelona declined and pursued the appeal with Cas which was heard in June this year.
The Uefa judgment was upheld by Cas, the final appeal court in European sport, and the €500,000 fine adjudged by the tribunal panel of three legal figures as “actually rather mild”. 
The judgment, published by Cas on Friday, will empower Uefa to look closely at what it calls the “disposal of non-tangible assets” to raise FFP-compliant revenue. It means that the deal by Chelsea’s US owners to sell the two Stamford Bridge hotels to different parts of the ownership group could come under scrutiny.
Barcelona will not be permitted to use the remaining €400 million (£333 million) from the Sixth Street sale, as well as €200 million (£167 million) they have claimed to have secured for sale of half of the Barca Studios subsidiary, as part of their financial consideration for the 2023-2024 Uefa FFP assessment. 
Clubs are monitored over a period of three years with permitted losses of €60 million (£50 million), or €90 million (£75 million) if they are judged to be in good financial health.
Barcelona were able to comply with FFP for the last cycle without the inclusion of the Sixth Street investment. For subsequent assessments it will be more difficult for the club to do so. 
The club tried to argue to the Cas panel that their ownership structure, as an association owned by its 140,000 members, made it impossible to inject capital. Uefa argued that Barcelona had “been living beyond its means”.