As one Qatari-owned club, Paris Saint-Germain, goes from strength to strength both on and off the pitch, another faces a one-year expulsion from European competition over financial irregularities.
One the same day it was reported PSG are set to ink a €800m deal with Qatar Tourism Authority, Spanish club Malaga, who were brought over Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Thani, a memvber of the Qatari ruling family, were were threatened with various sanctions bu UEFA.
European football’s governing body has warned Malaga they will be banned from taking part in either the Europa League or Champions League when they next qualify and also faced the prospect of a second year-long exclusion if they failed to clear outstanding debts.
UEFA’s club financial control body adjudicatory chamber, which met in Nyon, Switzerland, on Friday, gave the Andulacian club a deadline of March 31 next year to prove it had “no overdue payables” to clubs, employees or the tax authorities. If they were unable to do so, the ban would be extended, a statement on uefa.com said.
Despite their off-field financial issues, Malaga boss Manuel Pellegrini has not allowed that to affect his side’s performances on the pitch with the club reaching the last 16 of the Champions League in their debut season.
Malaga, who were also fined €300,000 euros by UEFA, were on Thursday drawn to face Portuguese side Porto in the knockout phase, giving the Spanish side a real chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.
The club also currently lie fourth in La Liga behind leaders Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, which would ordinarily allow them to qualify for a European spot.
Nine European clubs were referred to UEFA’s financial regulators because of debt problems, as the ruling body seeks to clamp down on clubs spending beyond their means and target infringements of licensing agreements.
Five other clubs face one-year European bans should they qualify over the next three seasons. They are Croatian sides Hajduk Split and Osijek; Romanian clubs Dinamo Bucharest and Rapid Bucharest; and Partizan Belgrade of Serbia.
The clubs were given a March 31, 2013 deadline to prove they had honoured their debts and were fined amounts ranging from €80,000 to €100,000.
Serbian side Vojvodina were fined €10,000, Ukraine’s Arsenal Kyiv received a €75,000 fine, €30,000 of which was suspended until it had proved it had paid its dues, while a case against Polish side Lech Poznan was dropped.
UEFA said in November that Malaga were among nine clubs facing sanctions over unpaid bills, although they lifted the suspension of prize money on 16 of 23 clubs originally targeted in September as part of their Fair Play controls.
Malaga spent nearly €60million on new players last year but failed to meet a deadline to show they had cleared overdue payments. However, despite the
UEFA are intending to introduce financial fair play rules to ensure that clubs in continental competition live within their means at the risk of penalties, including being banned from international tournaments.
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