Prize money for five clubs withheld due to overdue payables

047 - UEFA Club Financial Control Body investigatory chamber also opens seven investigations related to potential break-even breaches

The UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) investigatory chamber has today announced that five clubs involved in the 2014/15 UEFA club competitions have seen the payment of their prize money temporarily withheld as a provisional, conservatory measure, pending further investigation.

The five clubs (Bursaspor, CFR 1907 Cluj, FC Astra Giurgiu – formerly FC Astra Ploiești – FK Budućnost Podgorica and FK Ekranas) have had their prize money withheld as they presented important overdue payables towards other clubs, employees and/or social/tax authorities as on 30 June 2014.

Such decisions are not final, but of a provisional nature. The conservatory measures will remain in force until December 2014 when the CFCB investigatory chamber will complete the assessment of their overdue payable position as on 30 September 2014.

In addition, the CFCB has opened formal investigations into seven clubs (AS Monaco FC, AS Roma, Beşiktaş JK, FC Internazionale Milano, FC Krasnodar, Liverpool FC and Sporting Clube de Portugal) as they disclosed a break-even deficit on the basis of their financial reporting periods ending in 2012 and 2013. These clubs will need to submit additional monitoring information during October and November upon the deadlines set by the CFCB, subsequent to which an additional communication will be made and conservatory measures may be imposed.

Overall, and including the clubs already mentioned above and the nine clubs which have signed settlement agreements last season, 115 clubs will remain under monitoring throughout the campaign and have been requested to submit additional information, such as financial details for the year ending in 2014 and their overdue payables situation as of 30 September 2014, to the CFCB.

The introduction of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations has already had a very positive impact on the scale of overdue payables, as they have decreased from €57m in June 2011 to €8m in June 2014. In addition, aggregate losses reported by Europe's first-division clubs in the 2013 financial year have gone down to €800m from a record-reported deficit of €1.7bn in 2011.