Financial Fair Play: UEFA and FIFA regulations explained in detail

Financial Fair Play: UEFA and FIFA regulations explained in detail

The “Financial Fair Play” that everyone knew no longer exists — at least not with that name or with those rules. In June 2022, UEFA replaced the Financial Fair Play (FFP) system withUEFA Club Licensing and Financial Sustainability Regulations(FSR), a more ambitious, stricter regulatory framework with control mechanisms that the old FFP never had.

The change is not cosmetic. UEFA deliberately abandoned the name "Financial Fair Play" because it created the false impression that the goal was to level the playing field between clubs. It is not. The objective isfinancial sustainability: that clubs do not spend more than they generate, that they pay their debts on time, and that staff costs are proportionate to their income.

In this article I explain the three columns of the new system, how they work in practice, what sanctions non-compliant clubs face, and how the UEFA framework relates to the financial regulations of FIFA and the national leagues.

From the FFP to the Financial Sustainability Regulations

Financial Fair Play was introduced by UEFA in 2010 in response to a crisis: in 2009, Europe's first division clubs accumulated net losses of€ 1.6 billion. The FFP was a partial success — by 2018, those losses had turned into profits of €140 million. But COVID-19 destroyed that progress: losses once again reached€ 7,000 millionbetween 2020 and 2021.

In addition, the FFP had structural weaknesses: it looked only backwards (three years of historical information), was vulnerable to creative accounting (asset sales to related companies, long contracts to dilute amortizations), and did not directly control how much of their income clubs spent on salaries and transfers.

In April 2022, the UEFA Executive Committee approved theFinancial Sustainability Regulations (FSR), effective since June 2022. The new system was implemented gradually and became fully effective in theseason 2025/26.

The 3 pillars of the system

Pillar 1: No Overdue Payables Rule (payments up to date)

The simplest but most rigorous rule. Clubs must haveall your debts up to date— with other clubs, with employees, with tax and social security authorities, and with UEFA — on four control dates per season.

If a club has payments overdue for more than90 days, UEFA's CFCB (Club Financial Control Body) considers it aaggravatingwhich can lead to more severe sanctions. This rule protects the smaller clubs (who are usually the unpaid creditors), the players (salaries) and the national tax systems.

Pillar 2: Football Earnings Rule

This is the evolution of the old FFP "break-even". The ruler measures the difference between therelevant incomeand therelevant expensesof the club during a monitoring period ofthree consecutive years(reporting periods).

If the club hasaccumulated surplusin those three years → automatically complies.

If you haveaccumulated deficit→ must be within theacceptable deviation: maximum€ 5 milliondeficit. But this limit can increase up to€ 60 millionif the excess is fully covered bycapital contributions or positive net worth. Furthermore, an additional increase of up to€ 10 million per periodif the club demonstrates good financial health.

Pillar 3: Squad Cost Rule

The great innovation of the FSR — and the pillar that did not exist under the FFP. The rule states that thestaff cost ratioof a club cannot exceed a defined limit regarding its football income.

Formula:

Squad Cost Ratio = (Player and manager salaries + Amortization/depreciation of transfers + Agent expenses) ÷ Adjusted football income

In simple terms: if a club generates €500 million of football revenue, it cannot spend more than€ 350 millionin salaries of players and coaching staff, amortization of transfers and agent commissions.

The squad cost rule applies to all clubs that qualify for thegroup stagesof UEFA competitions, except those whose total employee expenses are less than €30 million in the last two reporting periods.

Sanctions

Sanctions for non-compliance are imposed by theCFCB (Club Financial Control Body)from UEFA and are progressive — more severe depending on severity and recidivism:

The sanctions of the squad cost rule are progressive: they accumulate if the club reoffends within a period of four years. The up-to-date payment rule has enhanced penalties with reduced tolerance. And the income rule allowssettlement agreements(settlement agreements) for clubs that commit to a correction plan.

The Premier League: from the PSR to the SCR

The Premier League has followed its own regulatory path, with a system that is converging with that of UEFA:

Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR):In force until the 2025/26 season, they allow losses of up to£105 millionin three years (with exclusions for "healthy" expenses such as infrastructure and training). The PSR was criticized for the creative accounting it allowed and led to media sanctions against Everton and Nottingham Forest.

Squad Cost Ratio (SCR):Approved by Premier League clubs in February 2025. It will come into force in theseason 2026/27, replacing the PSR. The proposed ratio is85 %for clubs that do not participate in UEFA competitions, with a lower threshold (70% of UEFA) for those that do compete in Europe.

Is there a FIFA Financial Fair Play?

Unlike UEFA, FIFAdoes not have a global financial control systemequivalent to FSR. What FIFA regulates in financial matters is limited to:

• Timely payments between clubs(art. 24 of the RETJ): consequences for not paying transfer compensation, including the possibility of being prohibited from registering players.
• Clearing House:Centralized processing of payments for training and solidarity, which increases transparency.
• Competition regulations:For specific tournaments such as the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, FIFA established financial requirements for participation.

However, FIFA does not impose spending limits or staff cost ratios at a global level. This is left to the confederations (such as UEFA) and the national leagues.

Impact on players and agents

Financial sustainability regulations directly affect the football labor market:

For players:Spending caps limit how much a club can pay in salaries. If a club is close to 70%, it cannot offer a high contract without selling or lowering salaries elsewhere. This candepress salariesin clubs that are at their limit, but it also encourages investment intraining of own players(which do not generate transfer amortization expense).

For agents:Agent commissions are now included in the calculation of UEFA's staff cost ratio. This means that the more the agent charges, the more expensive it is for the club from a regulatory point of view. This generates downward pressure on commissions and makes signings where commissions are lower more attractive.

For training clubs:The regulations encourage self-training. An internally trained player has no transfer cost to amortize, which reduces the numerator of the ratio. The clubs that invest in the youth academy have astructural advantageunder the new system.

Related articles

• How the international transfer system works
• Club multi-ownership (MCO): FIFA and UEFA regulations
• RETJ explained article by article
• Player contracts: structure, clauses and common errors
• FIFA training rights: what they are, how they are calculated and how to claim them
• Transfer windows: global calendar, rules and exceptions

This guide is based on the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Sustainability Regulations (2022, updated 2025), information from uefa.com, analysis from Morgan Sports Law, LawInSport, Sky Sports, Swiss Ramble, Kennedys Law and Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan. This guidance is informative and does not replace the advice of a lawyer or specialized financial advisor.

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