A group of Ligue 1 side Paris St. Germain supporters have taken UEFA to court "claiming financial fair play should be scrapped," according to Ian Holyman of ESPN. Along with Man City, PSG was one of the clubs "hit hardest when UEFA handed down its first slate of FFP punishments last summer." The club was fined €60M and had its transfer activity "limited to a maximum spend" of €55M, while its Champions League squad was reduced by four players to 21. Some 100 PSG fans "and the Association of Angry Fans against Financial Fair Play have brought a case against UEFA before Paris' High Court, arguing that certain FFP rules prevent investment and go against free competition, thereby maintaining the established elite." Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP lawyer Francois Brunet, who helped build the case, said, "It's not only the future of PSG that concerns me. It's the future of the
whole of French and European football. We can't let the Champions
League become a sort of private club in which only four or five clubs
can reach the semifinals." The sanctions imposed on PSG were "due in large part to UEFA's ruling"
that a €200M contract signed with the Qatar Tourism Authority had
been over-valued (ESPN, 4/30).
