Marseille have been fined three million euros ($3.36 million) for breaching financial fair play rules but had again escaped a ban from European competition, UEFA announced on Friday.

Marseille were second in Ligue 1 when the French season was abandoned because of the coronavirus pandemic and qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 2013.

While they escaped the ban which UEFA handed Manchester City the European governing body’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) imposed further punishments which will make participation less profitable and more challenging.

The CFCB cut by 15 per cent the money French club will receive for its participation in European competitions for the next two season and limited its European squad to 23 until 2022-2023.

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The club is paying for exceeding a maximum deficit it had agreed with UEFA.

After being punished in the Europa League with a fine, reduced revenue and a smaller squad, for losing 78.5 million euros in 2017-18, the club promised not to exceed 50 million euros but reported losses of 91 million euros in its 2018-2019 accounts.

The club argued that owner Frank McCourt, who took over in October 2016, had needed to make “heavy investments” and had “already injected some 250 million euros into the club.”

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria.