NYON, Switzerland — After a season of turmoil, American-owned French soccer club Marseille was threatened with a one-year ban from European competitions and fined 10 million euros ($11.5 million).
UEFA imposed the sanctions by its expert panel that monitors the finances of every club which qualifies for its competitions like the Champions League. The monitoring system was once called Financial Fair Play.
Marseille, majority owned by Frank McCourt, the former Los Angeles Dodgers owner, missed financial targets agreed with UEFA in a previous round of monitoring, UEFA said.
UEFA acknowledged Marseille was affected by the “significant and unexpected collapse of the domestic broadcasting revenues.”
Still, Marseille will be barred from the next European competition it qualifies for, unless “the club complies with the football earnings target in the 2026-27 season.”
Marseille failed to qualify for the next Champions League, finishing fifth in Ligue 1 in a season where coach Roberto de Zerbi was fired, president Pablo Longoria left and fans protested about the direction of the club that was European champion in 1993.
Marseille’s expected prize money from UEFA for playing in the Europa League next season would typically be half of the estimated 50-60 million euros ($57-69 million) earned from being in the Champions League this season.
An extra UEFA sanction is cutting the quota of senior players Marseille can register in its Europa League squad.
In a separate case, UEFA imposed fines totaling 6 million euros ($6.9 million) on Roma for missed financial targets agreed in a previous round of settlement talks. Roma also has a U.S. owner, the Friedkin family.
Italian clubs and the Serie A league have struggled to keep pace in the past two decades with the rising revenue of rivals, especially in England's Premier League.
