Abstract
In the late 1990’s it began to become apparent that whilst European football was benefitting
from dramatically higher revenues, these higher revenues did not translate into profitability
for clubs. Rather these revenues were largely being spent on a race to acquire playing talent.
This race also led to a dramatic increase in elite players’ salaries, leading to concern that
leagues across Europe would become a race between owners with the greatest financial
resources, and therefore undermining the integrity of the competitions. At the same time
many clubs began to make significant losses which could be sustained through subsidies from
public bodies or private investors. It also led to clubs going bankrupt and leaving a wide
range of creditors unpaid. In response to this phenomenon financial fair play regulations
(FFPR) were introduced by Europe’s football governing body, UEFA (The Union of
European Football Associations) to secure the long term finances of European football clubs.
UEFA, is an association of associations, a representative democracy, and is the umbrella
organisation for 54 national football associations across Europe (UEFA, 2014). Their
objective was to secure the long term financial status of European football. Author keywords: UEFA, financial fair play, sports, football
