AC Milan will not play in the 2019/20 Europa League after breaching financial fair play rules, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has announced.
“AC Milan is excluded from participating in UEFA club competitions of the sporting season 2019/2020 as a consequence of the breach of its FFP break-even obligations” for the past three seasons, the court ruled.
The decision has been taken with the Italian club aiming to balance its books before competing in European competition again.
CAS issued a statement confirming it has accepted an agreement between the two parties due to Milan's previous breaches of FFP regulations.
A ruling by UEFA's Adjudicatory Chamber of the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) in December 2018 stated the Serie A giant would be excluded from participating in European club competitions if it breached the rules again before June 2021.
If it was unable to be break-even compliant, Milan would have been excluded for the next UEFA club competition it qualified for in either the 2022-23 or 2023-24 seasons.
Milan’s absence means Roma, which finished a place behind the Rossoneri in the Serie A table, will enter the group stage draw for the Europa League, while Torino goes into the qualification play-offs.
UEFA handed Milan a two-year suspension in 2018, only for the club to successfully appeal against the decision to CAS. However, it was referred again to the governing body’s CFCB earlier this year, raising the prospect of an increased punishment.
In accepting it will not compete in the next Europa League campaign, Milan has further time to balance the books under chief executive Ivan Gazidis, who arrived last December.
The seven-time European champion has also appointed former players Paolo Maldini and Zvonimir Boban as technical director and chief football officer respectively since the end of the 2018-19 campaign.
Marco Giampaolo, meanwhile, was named its new head coach on June 19, arriving from Sampdoria to fill the void created by Gennaro Gattuso's departure.
Comments
SHARE