UEFA punishes 11 European soccer clubs for overdue debts

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA punished 11 golf equipment on Friday, together with one in Slovenia the place its president, Aleksander Čeferin, was as soon as a board member, for breaking monetary monitoring guidelines.

Six golf equipment together with, Olimpija Ljubljana, and Romanian champion Cluj have been threatened with a one-year ban from the following European competitors they qualify for by 2027. They have probationary intervals of 1 or two years with monetary targets to fulfill, UEFA mentioned in a press release.

Olimpija was fined €100,000 (US$106,000) by a UEFA-appointed investigation panel for late or non-payment — so-called “overdue payables” — of wages, switch charges or social taxes. More than 200 golf equipment that certified to play within the three UEFA competitions this season have been all evaluated thrice since July, UEFA mentioned.

The high quality is the second for Olimpija beneath UEFA guidelines previously referred to as “Financial Fair Play” since Čeferin left the membership’s govt committee 12 years in the past.

The Slovenian membership earned €350,000 (US$372,000) in UEFA prize cash taking part in within the qualifying rounds of the third-tier Europa Conference League this season.

The largest monetary penalties have been imposed on Croatian golf equipment Osijek and Rijeka, whose overdue payables dated to final season, placing them in breach of necessary licences granted by nationwide federations for groups to play in UEFA competitions.

UEFA mentioned each golf equipment have been stripped of their €450,000 (US$478,000) prize cash from taking part in within the Europa Conference League this season.

The largest high quality for overdue money owed was €250,000 (US$266,000) imposed on Cluj, which performed within the Champions League qualifying rounds this season and reached the Europa Conference League knockout playoffs, shedding final week to Lazio

Other fines ranged from €150,000 (US$159,000) to €10,000 (US$10,600) for Aris Thessaloniki, Astana, Borac Banja Luka, Floriana, Konyaspor, Kyzyl-Zhar SK Petropavlosk, Osijek and Valmiera.

The panel assessing golf equipment’ funds for UEFA is chaired by Sunil Gulati, the previous U.S. Soccer Federation president who’s an economics lecturer at Columbia University. Gulati and Čeferin have been colleagues on the FIFA Council from 2016-21.