Paris St. Germain Among Seven Clubs Seeking Monaco Tax Deal Cancellation

Seven French clubs including Ligue 1 leader Paris St. Germain said that they are "taking legal action to obtain the cancellation of the deal that settled a year-long dispute over Monaco’s tax advantage," according to Blachier & Canellas of REUTERS. Monaco announced in January that it would pay $67.9M to the French Football League (LFP) as "part of a deal that would ‘guarantee the club their participation in the championship while keeping their headquarters in the principality.'" The club, owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, "threatened legal action in May against a league edict" that it had to move its headquarters to France, "thereby ending tax exemption for their players." The other clubs taking action are Ligue 2 side Caen and Ligue 1 clubs Girondins Bordeaux, Lille, Lorient, Olympique Marseille and Montpellier. The clubs argued that "last month's deal had been 'rushed and non- transparent' and did not 'respect some basic law principles'" (REUTERS, 2/13).