Spanish duo confident of escaping penalty
Restructuring process underway at Malaga
Spanish Primera Liga clubs Malaga and Atletico Madrid said they were confident of avoiding punishment after UEFA temporarily withheld prize money owed to them pending an investigation into their financial practices.
Malaga and Atletico Madrid were among 23 clubs, including Malta’s Floriana FC, named in a statement by European football’s governing body as part of the “first measure” of UEFA’s much-touted Financial Fair Play rules.
UEFA said they had identified “that important overdue payables towards other clubs, and/or towards employees or social/tax authorities existed in 23 cases,” and said they would “provide an updated situation as of September 30.”
However, Malaga, who have qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time, yesterday issued a statement of their own to confirm that measures had already been taken to address their financial problems.
They said that “a complete internal restructuring process got underway over a month ago, aiming to guarantee the future viability of the club.
“The club is still fully immersed in this process, and has now stabilised the financial situation with other clubs, employees and players, and is in negotiations with the Ministry of Finance.”
Europa League holders and European Super Cup winners Atletico added that they too had recently taken action to step into line with UEFA’s fair play rules.
“We would like to clarify that UEFA’s statement does not mean that any punishment has been imposed on Atletico Madrid,” read a statement on the club’s website yesterday.
They said that documentation had been provided to UEFA on request last month and that they expected any ruling to be “favourable”.
It was reported earlier this year that Atletico Madrid owed €155 million to Spanish tax authorities alone.
Floriana FC official Dione Borg also felt confident that his club will be cleared from further sanctions by UEFA.
In his comments to The Times on Tuesday, Borg said Floriana’s new committee have already held a series of meetings with the Malta FA and some of the pending dues were also settled.
“We’re on the right track and if things stay this way we’ll be cleared very soon.”