NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA has eased its rules for monitoring spending by Europe’s top soccer clubs due to financial instability caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The European soccer industry is losing hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in income from playing games without fans and disruption to broadcast contracts.
UEFA announced changes on Thursday effectively combining two accounting years for clubs into one that will be assessed next year in the Financial Fair Play program.
“The adverse impact of the pandemic is neutralized by averaging the combined deficit of 2020 and 2021 and by further allowing specific COVID-19 adjustments,” Europe’s soccer body said in a statement after an executive committee meeting.