UEFA Plans €6bn Bailout Package for Football Clubs

By Adedapo Adesanya

Following a messy Super League affair, the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) is reportedly planning a bailout package valued at €6 billion to help European football recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UEFA is putting the final touches, according to people familiar with the matter, as per a report by Bloomberg.

The funding is part of a triple strategy proposed by the European football governing body, which will be detailed in the coming weeks, to help clubs after more than a year of stadium closures, as well as falling broadcast revenues.

UEFA’s plan includes a €2 billion to €6 billion line of financing; an emergency money reserve to protect against future crises and new rules on financial fair play.

It was revealed in the report that under the proposals, the clubs will have access to funds at lower borrowing rates and will be able to restructure existing debt for longer periods of five to seven years, the persons said.

The measures come at a time when games in Europe’s biggest championships were affected by the pandemic, including the flagship UEFA Champions League.

The European soccer market contracted for the first time since the financial crisis in the 2019/2020 season, with revenue falling 13 per cent to €25.2 billion, according to a July Deloitte report.

This has affected even the most prestigious clubs with Spain’s FC Barcelona unable to find the money this month to renew the contract of Lionel Messi, who eventually had to sign a contract with Paris Saint-Germain FC, the French team backed by Qatar.

In addition, UEFA will seek to prevent super-wealthy owned clubs such as Chelsea FC and Manchester City FC in the United Kingdom from gaining an unfair advantage in European leagues by introducing new caps on player salaries.

At the beginning of this year, A group of the 12 football teams looking to increase and guarantee future income planned to separate from the UEFA Champions League to form a new European Super League.

The plan, which was backed with funding from JPMorgan Chase & Co., fell apart within days after strong criticism from fans and politicians with necessary punishments meted out to some of the parties.