UEFA kicks Milan’s potential FFP penalty down the road yet again

Wondering if AC Milan are going to face the wrath of UEFA for any alleged Financial Fair Play violations? Well, you’re going to have to wait to see what, if any, penalties will be levied against Milan.

UEFA released a statement today saying:

The suspension of the proceedings will remain in place until after the issuance of the award in the ongoing CAS case.

The UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) Adjudicatory Chamber has issued a procedural order suspending the proceedings against AC Milan regarding its failure to comply with the break-even requirement during the current monitoring period assessed in the 2018/19 season and covering the reporting periods ending in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The suspension of the proceedings will remain in place until after the issuance of the award in the ongoing CAS proceedings dealing with the sanction imposed on the club for failing to comply with the break-even requirement for the reporting periods ending in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

So while this might seem a like a victory for Milan, it’s really not.

UEFA is just waiting to see what the Court of Arbitration for Sport says about the earlier penalty from UEFA that Milan appealed. This doesn’t mean that UEFA is going to stop its proceedings against Milan, nor does it mean that Milan is not going to face any penalty. All this is doing is delaying whatever penalty Milan will face from UEFA.

While the merits of the UEFA charge seem dubious, especially from a Milan perspective, but the point remains that UEFA has taken a rather dim view of the spending from Milan over the past few years and seems intent on punishing Milan. The problem with kicking the penalty down the road is that eventually Milan will get punished, so might as well get it over with now and move on with life. If it means Milan misses out on the Europa League this season, so be it. It’s better to loose out on Europa League this season and concentrate on Serie A rather than compete in both competitions, get bounced, and then find out that UEFA is kicking Milan out of the Champions League next year. The Europa League isn’t a lucrative enough competition to risk missing out on Champions League football down the road.

Milan need to figure out a settlement with UEFA sooner rather than later, and hopefully with someone like Ivan Gazidis in charge, and with owners like Elliott Management, the club can prove that they are no longer submitting business plans that are written in crayon. Time to take the medicine and move on with life.