Agent fights on in battle against UEFA's finance rules

LONDON (Reuters) - A football agent plans to pursue his legal case against UEFA's new Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules despite the rejection of a complaint filed with the European Commission, his lawyer said on Wednesday.





Agent Daniel Striani has been challenging FFP via the Commission and in a separate case brought before a court in Belgium that is expected to be decided next year.

Striani is represented by Jean-Louis Dupont, a lawyer involved in the landmark Bosman case of 1995 that helped to rewrite the rules under which players are hired.

Dupont confirmed that Striani had received a letter from the Commission "in which it reports that it envisages rejecting the complaint."

However, Dupont took heart from a section of the letter saying that the court in Brussels was "well placed" to deal with his argument that FFP rules infringe EU law.

UEFA handed out its first sanctions under its new FFP rules last week, fining Manchester City and Paris St Germain up to 60 million euros (48.5 million pounds) each and capping the size of their Champions League squads for next season.

The rules are designed to bring greater stability to the finances of European soccer by forcing clubs to live within their means.

The complaint argues that the "break even" component of FFP restricts investment in clubs, cements the existing balance of power in the game, reduces transfer activity, depresses player wages and as a consequence reduces the income of agents.

Dupont was part of the legal team that secured the Bosman ruling at the European Court of Justice almost 20 years ago.

The ruling ended national league limits on foreign EU soccer players and allowed players to move on free transfers at the end of their contracts.





(Writing by Keith Weir; editing by Justin Palmer)


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