Financial Fair Play (FFP) was a system of regulations set up by the UEFA in order to make sure that football clubs were not spending more than they earned in a season. The main reason for the implementation of this system was to establish a fair playing ground for all clubs in the European football setting. The system was implemented in order to stop clubs with rich investors from spending all the money invested and then not paying the debt required from them should they spend more than they earned. The rules for this system is simple, either you follow the regulations and not spend more income than generated or you get punished. These punishments can range from a simple fine to exclusion from a particular future competition.
While this system seems good on the outside it still has some underlying problems that have not been voiced frequently enough. One unseen problem is that it will actually help keep the top clubs in Europe in power. Teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich aren’t top clubs because of rich investors, instead, they have slowly but surely built their dominance of European football through continued success on the pitch. So the FFP will actually benefit these clubs more than anything since they already have built too much support to fail and the clubs with rich investors that would have been a challenge for them, Paris Saint Germain or Chelsea, will no longer be relevant.
Another relevant problem that needs to be discussed is that this regulation will most likely make the sport less thrilling to watch. For example, two years before a rich investor (Sheik Mansour) started putting money into Manchester City (who won the 2012 Premier League in one of the most exciting moments in football history) they finished the Premier League at 14th. The methods of these certain clubs might be questionable but the effect is undeniable. They have made European football a more exhilarating and invigorating sport. This type of spending also helps bring other leagues in Europe into the spotlight. For Example, Ligue 1 has only had one champions league winner (Marseille in 1993) but with Paris Saint Germain expensive spending, they are determined to win the Champions League and put French Football back on the map.
Although FFP seems like a natural step in the ever-evolving game of football, one has to ask himself, does the benefit of a more even-playing field worth the cost of making football a less exciting and less enthralling game? Only time will tell
