UEFA sets 6-O as deadline to register players

The UEFA Executive Committee has recommended harmonizing the end date of this summer's 'transfer window' within the temporary emergency measures that it has approved as an annex to the regulations of Club Licenses and Financial Fair Play to face the consequences of COVID-19 in clubs.

The deadline for registering players for the group stage of the Champions League and Europa League for the 2020-21 season will be October 6. For this reason, the UEFA Executive Committee has appealed to its member associations to the date of October 5 is harmonized as a limit for the summer transfer window.

On the other hand, the UEFA Executive Committee has approved a series of emergency measures than make the regulation of club licenses and financial fair play more flexible given the negative effect of COVID-19 on the economy of the clubs.

Between them Participants in your competitions will be allowed to demonstrate as of July 31 (instead of June 30) and September 30 that they have no outstanding debts and postpone the evaluation of the financial year 2020, which will be examined together with that of 2021, for one season.

As reported by UEFA, the temporary measures are aimed at “face the real problem that is the income deficit due to COVID-19 and not due to financial mismanagement” and “maintaining the spirit and intention of financial fair play for the long-term viability of football.

Too provide flexibility while ensuring that clubs meet their transfer and salary obligations and give them more time to quantify and account for unforeseen revenue losses.

They also seek to neutralize the adverse impact of the pandemic allowing them to adjust the break-even calculation for reported income deficits in 2020 and 2021, at the same time protecting the system against possible abuses and guaranteeing equal treatment with different reporting periods for the various fiscal year ends and national leagues.

The measures affect the following points:

Late payments – valid during the 2020/21 season

-All clubs participating in UEFA competitions must demonstrate as of July 31 (instead of June 30) and September 30 that they have no outstanding debts regarding transfers, employees, and social / tax authorities as a result of the obligations that must be paid until June 30 and September 30, respectively.

-All clubs competing in UEFA competitions must communicate accounts receivable information regarding transfers as of June 30 and September 30 to allow information to be crossed with accounts payable from other clubs.

Break-point rule – valid during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons

-The evaluation of the financial year 2020 is postponed for one season and will be evaluated together with the financial year 2021.

–The evaluation period of the 2020/2021 season it is reduced and only covers two reporting periods (the fiscal years ending in 2018 and 2019).

-The evaluation period of the 2021/2022 season is extended and covers four reporting periods (the fiscal years ending in 2018-2019-2020 and 2021).

-The financial years of 2020 and 2021 are evaluated as a single period.

-The negative impact of the pandemic is neutralized by averaging the joint deficit of 2020 and 2021, also allowing specific adjustments by COVID-19.

As reported by UEFA, all these measures adopted as an appendix to the Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations were unanimously developed and approved by the parties involved within the UEFA Emergency Working Group on Legal, Regulatory and Financial matters that Includes representatives from UEFA, ECA, European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe.

Ceferin: “September window prevents more damage for national team soccer”

Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA president, said on Thursday that the decision of the body's Executive Committee to maintain the September international 'window' for the return of national team matches prevents national team football “from suffering further damage ” If he had not defined the competitive program in this way, in his opinion, “he would feel especially hard at the base level.” “As guardians of the game across Europe, we cannot allow that to happen,” he said. Ceferin said that “the decision to postpone the Euro Cup 2020 has had a significant cost for football of the national teams and the member associations of UEFA, but it has allowed national competitions across Europe to be played to the end, which, in turn, has been enormously beneficial for both club and international soccer. “

“The changes introduced in the European football calendar, agreed by UEFA, the ECA and the European Leagues, will also allow the maintenance of international matches in a period that is an important and long-lasting element of the international match schedule,” he said. The UEFA Executive, meeting electronically between Wednesday and Thursday to define the program of international club and national team competitions, among other issues, decided that the meetings of the group stage of the League of Nations 2020/21 begin to be disputed in September with two days (3/4/5 and 6/7/8). Spain will visit Germany on September 3 in Group 4 of League A and on 6 they will receive Ukraine. The third match will be played again at home on October 10 against Switzerland, on the 13 they will play in the Ukrainian fief. A month later he will face the Swiss team at home and will close this phase at home against the German squad on November 16.