NYON, Switzerland – UEFA punished 11 clubs, including one in Slovenia where its president Aleksander Ceferin was once a board member, for breaking financial monitoring rules.
Six clubs including Olimpija Ljubljana and Romanian champion Cluj were threatened with a one-year ban from the next European competition they qualify for through 2027.
They have probationary periods of one or two years with financial targets to meet, UEFA said in a statement.
Olimpija was fined 100,000 euros ($106,000) by a UEFA-appointed investigation panel for late or non-payment – so-called “overdue payables” – of wages, transfer fees or social taxes.
More than 200 clubs that qualified to play in the three UEFA competitions this season were all evaluated three times since July, UEFA said according to AP.
The fine is the second for Olimpija under UEFA rules formerly called “Financial Fair Play” since Ceferin left the club´s executive committee 12 years ago.
The Slovenian club earned 350,000 euros ($372,000) in UEFA prize money playing in the qualifying rounds of the third-tier Europa Conference League this season.
The biggest financial penalties were imposed on Croatian clubs Osijek and Rijeka, whose overdue payables dated to last season, putting them in breach of mandatory licenses granted by national federations for teams to play in UEFA competitions.
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