Chinese-owned club Inter on Friday were one of three clubs released from settlement regimes for breaches of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules after meeting agreed targets.
UEFA said that the northern Italian giants have fulfilled all the terms set out in the agreement signed in May 2015.
“Inter Milan have been considered in compliance with the overall objective of their agreements,” UEFA said. “Consequently, they have now all exited the settlement regime.”
Astana of Kazakhstan and Istanbul club Besiktas were also deemed in compliance with FFP, but a second Turkish club, Trabzonspor, this season failed to comply with the break-even requirement of their agreement and face a hearing.
FFP was introduced by UEFA to prevent clubs that qualify for its competitions from spending beyond their means.
UEFA rules state that clubs cannot spend more than they earn in any given season and deficits must fall within a 30 million euro (US$33.5 million) limit over three seasons.
English champions Manchester City have fallen foul of FFP and have been referred to UEFA’s adjudicatory chamber for alleged breaches of the rules, where if found guilty they could face expulsion from the Champions League.
Coach Pep Guardiola on Thursday said that he has complete confidence in his bosses at Manchester City ahead of UEFA’s ruling, as his side prepare for this weekend’s FA Cup final against Watford.
Guardiola is critical of how his club have been condemned by many already.
“I trust the club and the people,” he said. “I know we won the Premier League and in the last two or three days, people only talked about this [the alleged breaches].”
“If we did something wrong and UEFA decides that we did something wrong, we will be punished or whatever they decide,” he added. “I know people are waiting for us to be guilty, but we are innocent right now.”
Guardiola said that he would leave the arguments to the club’s lawyers.
“We will accept it, but I have spoken to the chairman and the CEOs. I know exactly what they did and I trust the lot of them,” the 48-year-old said.
“UEFA are now working with the lawyers of Manchester City. Manchester City is open to expose all the papers, all the documents and all that they have done,” he added.
Inter in May 2015 signed their agreement promising to eliminate losses. They were also fined 20 million euros and could only register 22 players instead of 25 for UEFA’s European competitions.
This season, Inter won their first two group matches in the Champions League, but failed to win any of their next four and ended up third, edged out on goal difference by Tottenham Hotspur.
Inter are well-positioned to qualify for next season’s Champions League and are to have more margin for maneuver on this summer’s transfer market.
The club have been bankrolled by Chinese retail giant Suning Holdings Group since August 2016.
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