UEFA fines Roma €6 million for breaching financial agreement

UEFA formalised its decisions on the financial monitoring of European clubs this Tuesday, and Roma came out of the process with a hefty bill: €6 million in fines for breaching two parameters of the settlement agreement signed with the body. The club from the Italian capital remains under scrutiny, but there are reasons not to panic.

Two problems, a single sanction

The penalty was split into two parts. The first €2 million relate to the slight overshoot of the intermediate target set for the fiscal year ending in 2025. The other €4 million stem from a different kind of imbalance: the ratio between squad costs and the club’s revenues exceeded the 70% ceiling set by UEFA for the 2025 calendar year.

In practice, the Giallorossi spent proportionally more than they should have on wages and contracts relative to what came into the coffers. It is not a rare anomaly in European football. This weighs in Roma’s favour in negotiations with the body.

The deadline, however, is short. The club needs to close some deals before 30 June to definitively wrap up the agreement and recover full freedom in the transfer market. Sales are indispensable. Argentine forward Matías Soulé is pointed to as one of the names with the greatest potential to leave – Borussia Dortmund are said to be monitoring the player’s situation closely. And the freshly secured Champions League spot increases the market’s appetite for the Italian window.

Who came out well – and who came out very badly

While Roma have to hurry, Milan and Inter breathed easy: both clubs left the settlement agreement regime after meeting the revenue requirements for the 2025/26 season. Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain, Besiktas, Antwerp and Trabzonspor were also released from UEFA’s financial oversight.

The most dramatic scenario was reserved for Olympique de Marseille. The French club did not reach its final objective and now faces the threat of exclusion from UEFA competitions for three seasons, plus restrictions on player registrations and a €6 million fine – the same amount applied to Roma. The exclusion is suspended for now, but one more slip is enough for it to materialise. For OM’s board, it is a knife to the throat.