The China Mail - Marseille dodge European expulsion but hit with UEFA fine

The governing body of European football also ruled that it would restrict the registration of new players for the club's Europa League campaign.

Marseille were one of nine clubs already under a "settlement agreement" for breaching football earnings rules. Their accounts were reassessed after the season just finished.

Of the other eight, only Roma were found to have exceeded the targets set in the agreement and were fined.

The Marseille agreement was first struck in 2022.

UEFA said in a statement that the ruling by its Club Financial Control Body "took into account the significant and unexpected collapse of the domestic broadcasting revenues affecting French clubs in the 2025/26 season and continuing to affect them in the 2026/27 seasons."

It added that it was also "taking into account the limited extent of the breach".

UEFA fined Marseille 6 million euros (6.95mn dollars) for failing to meet their target and 4mn euros for a breach of squad cost rules.

UEFA warned that if Marseille failed to meet the targets next season, they could be banned from Europe.

A source said the decision had followed fraught discussions involving new Marseille chief executive Stephane Richard and owner Frank McCourt.

"OM have narrowly avoided the worst, but exclusion was a very, very close call. The discussions were long and difficult," the source told AFP.

For their part, the club released a statement saying it "took note" of the decision which "is above all a reminder" of its "responsibility" and "comes with significant requirements".

The club are also due to appear shortly before the DNCG, French football's financial watchdog.

In 2022, Marseille agreed to aim for a cumulative deficit of 60mn euros over the next three seasons. Instead their net losses have continued to widen, rising to 105mn euros in 2024/5 according to figures released by the DNCG.

Roma were fined a total of 6mn euros: 2mn euros for having "slightly exceeded the intermediate target" and 4mn euros for a "squad cost ratio above 70% for the calendar year 2025".

Meanwhile, two other Ligue 1 clubs, Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco; two Italian clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan; two Turkish clubs Besiktas and Trabzonspor and Royal Antwerp of Belgium, "met the final target of the settlement... and therefore exited the settlement regime".

C.Fong--ThChM