Browsing Archive: May, 2013

Monaco aiming to become a 'boutique club'

Posted by Ed Thompson on Tuesday, May 28, 2013,

French football is currently agonising over how to deal with newly promoted AS Monaco – a club backed by Russian potash billionaire Dmitri Rybolvlev which has recently embarked on some headline-grabbing spending (including Falcao for a reported E50m and Victor Valdes). 

The independent principality of Monaco has a population of around 36,000 and has separate tax laws to France. Although French nationals pay the same rate of tax as in France, overseas players living in Monaco (other than Amer...


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Platini grilled about FFP

Posted by Ed Thompson on Monday, May 27, 2013,

On the eve of the Champions League, Michel Platini gave an extended interview to the Mail’s Martin Samuel. Samuel has long been an outspoken critic of FFP and certainly put the UEFA head on the spot.  Platini was left to struggling to justify some elements of FFP (although, as Platini pointed out, English isn't his first language). The full transcript of the interview really is an excellent read – click here.

Following Bayern’s win, a number of football pundits suggested that FFP would m...


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Campaign to end Arsenal's link with ruthless deforestation company

Posted by Ed Thompson on Saturday, May 25, 2013,

A campaign is underway to force Arsenal to examine their links with controversial Vietnamese logging and rubber company HAGL. 

Money-spinning end-of-season foreign tours to exotic places are now common-place for Premier League clubs and few people initially questioned Arsenal's plan to visit Vietnam. After all, Arsenal has an established academy with one of Vietnam's biggest clubs HAGL ('HAGL-Arsenal Academy') and are keen to market the club in the Far East. However their links to HAGL look se...


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Legal challenge to UEFA FFP rules by 'Bosman' Lawyer

Posted by Ed Thompson on Thursday, May 9, 2013,

Jean-Louis Dupont, the lawyer who was successfully challenged football contract laws for Jean-Marc Bosman in 1995, has now challenged the Financial Fair Play rules with the European Commission. Football Clubs themselves are restricted from easily challenging the FFP rules (other than through the Court of Arbitration for Sport – CAS) because the rules were voted-in by the European Club Association. Hence Dupont is pressing the challenge on behalf of a Belgian football agent, Daniel Striani. ...


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‘FFP was introduced following English success’

Posted by Ed Thompson on Thursday, May 9, 2013,

Italian site http://tifosobilanciato.it  has published an unusually candid  interview with Umberto Gandini, AC Milan Organising Director and Vice President of the European Club Association.

The European Club Association (ECA) is the representative association for Europe’s top clubs and is headed by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, with Gandini as Vice President.  The ECA works with UEFA whenever rule-changes are being proposed and also petitions UEFA for change. The Financial Fair Play rules were prod...


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