UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin said that he is "more concerned with money flowing out of the game in the form of ballooning agent commissions than he is with cash recirculating among clubs," according to Gabriele Marcotti of the LONDON TIMES. He added that anyone who violates Financial Fair Play requirements will not only be punished, but will be "punished severely." Čeferin: "We can't be a tiger without teeth." He gave the "strongest indication yet that he wants to take action against the polarisation and competitive imbalance at the top of European football." That is something that "could rock the game to its foundation." Čeferin said, "[Nobody] wants to see teams with unlimited budgets, [nobody] wants [zero] competitive balance, [nobody] wants only ten or 12 teams [who can win] in Europe." FFP was "never about levelling the playing field but rather it was about clubs living within their means and turning football into a sustainable business." Over the past decade, the game "has become polarised, with a cadre of super clubs dominating at home and abroad." Čeferin wants to address this, and he is "ready to explore measures" such as salary caps or a "luxury tax" to do it. A "luxury tax" is a mechanism whereby if a team spends beyond a certain amount on wages or transfers, it has to pay a "tax" into a central pot, which then gets redistributed among other clubs. Many have assumed such measures -- which are "part and parcel" of U.S. sport -- "would be illegal under European competition law." Čeferin said, "Years ago, [former UEFA President] Michel Platini and [European Club Association Chair] Karl-Heinz Rummenigge went to see the European Commission about salary caps and luxury taxes and were told it's impossible. I'm not so sure it's still impossible." Čeferin will meet with the European Commission next month (LONDON TIMES, 8/28).
