On Thursday, 30 April, supporters of the Olympique de Marseille were torn after the announcement of the definitive cessation of the championship by the League of professional football (LFP) and the freezing of the classification. Second in Ligue 1 behind Paris Saint-Germain, the club phocéen is therefore preparing to finally join the elite of european football, seven years after his last participation.

But a shadow hangs dangerously on the future of the OM in the champions League, because the club – which seems to have many difficulties in managing its budget – is more than ever under the threat of financial fair play and an eventual exclusion of the C1.

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Watched by the experts of the constable on the next eu budget, the club Jacques-Henri Eyraud is a very bad pupil in terms of economic management. Last season (2018-2019), the club marseille showed a deficit of € 91 million, after the 78.5 million euros in the fiscal year 2017-2018. If the OM has such a hole, is that the club has seen its payroll to reach a record $ 127 million (+ 2 million compared to the previous season). However, Olympique de Marseille had previously signed an agreement with UEFA by which the club promised to reduce its spending during the four seasons. In this agreement, which runs until the season 2022-2023, the Marseillais are committed to show “a maximum deficit of thirty million euros on the year ended in 2020, “zero euro” in 2021 and finally to achieve the full respect of the threshold of profitability ” by 2023, had clarified the UEFA last June.

a Few months later, it is clear that the situation has not been rectified. The club marseille has not complied with the commitments of financial intermediaries, particularly concerning the sales of players and the decline of the wage bill. A situation that is not very surprising, since virtually no member of the staff of Andre Villas-Boas has left the mediterranean city since last summer. And with the big salaries that accumulate, including those from Dimitri Payet (6.6 million euros), Kevin Strootman (€6.6 million), or Florian Thauvin (4.92 million euros), the payroll of the OM has become a real drain on the economy. And the current economic situation is not going in the right direction, as Olympique de Marseille continues to be responsible for the cost of operation of the Velodrome stadium, in which he recovered the operation in February 2019, the absence of rights tv (that the broadcasters refused to pay for the clubs) and the lack of revenue at the counters.

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Towards an exclusion from European Cups ?

This situation – to be problematic for the accounts of the club olympian – could also have very serious consequences on the future of the institution in marseille. If the crisis health-related Covid-19 has caused heavy damage to all the european clubs and pushed UEFA to show leniency, Olympique de Marseille will certainly not between the meshes of the net. In effect, the offences committed by the club phocéen are prior to the health crisis. Subject to the regime of a ” settlement agreement “, the property of Frank McCourt ” has not respected the conditions that were set for the season 2019-2020 “, lamented the UEFA in a press release published in early march. As a result, the european organisation has forwarded the dossier of the club at the instance of the club financial control (ICFC). Unable to straighten their accounts, the leaders are now in a stalemate and expose the company to severe penalties.

From a simple reprimand to a fine, by way of a deduction of points at its next participation, and even exclusion from European cups, the OM is more than ever under the threat of a sanction. For the time being, the european authority has not yet rendered its verdict, but Marseille had already withdrawn a total of six million euros on the income potential of its interests in the future european competitions (C1 and C3) : two million farm and four million euros, conditioned to the respect by the club to its engagements.

For his part, the president olympian has shown to be rather reassuring on this point : “If the financial fair play would eventually go up to a penalty on participation in the European Cup, this would be on the season 2021-2022. This would not be for the current season. I don’t know what will happen, I am respectful of the Room and of the bodies that will decide on the folder of the OM. But if it is sanctioned, it will not be the first club to be “, during a videoconference with supporters as reported by 20 Minutes. But last Wednesday, the sports daily The Team was shown to be much less categorical about this, stating that the record of the OM was still being investigated and that the european authority would make its decision with sanctions to apply as soon as the season 2020-2021.

The jurisprudence of Manchester City and AC Milan

Adopted in may 2010, the financial fair play has become the gendarme of european football. In the case of non-compliance, UEFA may make orders for clubs, which can range from a simple reprimand to exclusion pure and simple of the european competitions. Sanctions are not to be taken lightly, since UEFA did not hesitate to exclude clubs from its competitions in the past.

And, in June 2019, unable to reach a financial equilibrium, the AC Milan is ruled out for the first time at a european competition (the Europa League). After years of bad management by his ex-owner is chinese, the club lombard is compensated by its recurrent violations of the rules of financial fair play. Even more recently (on 14 February), Manchester City have also been suspended from all continental competitions for the next two seasons, with the bonus of a fine of 30 million euros. The european body considered that the English club had voluntarily cheated on the presentation of its accounts. The Citizens have appealed this decision before the Court of arbitration for sport (CAS), who must make his own prior to the start of the next season of the champions League. Olympique de Marseille will he be the first French club to be so heavily condemned ? Response in June.

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