CAS upholds Barça's fine for non-compliance with UEFA's financial fair play rules

Bad news for FC Barcelona. The Blaugrana entity will have to pay a fine of around €500,000 to the European football governing body, UEFA, due to what was considered a violation of financial fair play, specifically articles 58 (1) and (2) of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations (CL&FFP), as well as article 77.01 (e) of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations (CL&FS).

This determination was confirmed this Friday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS), after finding that Barcelona attempted to account for the sale of 25% of LaLiga's television rights to Sixth Street for €267 million as "operating income," when it was actually an "extraordinary gain from asset sales," which apparently was seen as a way to circumvent UEFA's economic rules.

According to the entity led by Aleksander Čeferin, the sale of 25% (15% in 2021-22 and another 10% in 2022-23) of LaLiga's television rights to Sixth Street should not have been recorded as "other operating income," but should have been accounted for as "profit from the sale of intangible assets." This move, it should be noted, allowed the club to add €267 million to relevant revenues, which is the amount used to determine if a team is spending on its sports team above the percentage allowed by the regulations.

The sanction could have been lighter for FC Barcelona

At this point, the TAS also recalls that Barcelona had the opportunity to acknowledge the error and correct it, which would have involved a reduction of the fine to around €80,000. However, seeing that the Catalan side did not rectify this issue, the said judicial body concluded that the club's actions were "intentional," hence the severe financial penalty.

It is also important to clarify that in the decision issued by the TAS, it is mentioned that Barcelona's attempt to alter its compliance with UEFA could have repercussions in the coming years. "The discrepancy in the classification has a significant impact on FC Barcelona's balance sheet results, not only now but undoubtedly for the next two seasons, as a monitoring period covers three consecutive reporting periods."