As the 2018/19 season draws to a close, and the transfer window opens, thoughts turn tohow a club can improve through player acquisitions. Inevitably questions arise as tobudget. In football, these discussions are further complicated by the existence of variousrules which regulate how clubs can spend. 2018/19 赛季已然结束,转会市场因而重新开放,所有视野将聚焦于俱乐部如何通过收购球 员增加竞争力。关于转会预算的讨论在这种时候都会热闹起来。由于一些规则的存在,足球市场的预算问题都比较复杂。
When UEFA first implemented its Financial Fair Play rules, its then president Michel Platini said: “I just want clubs to spend money they have, not what they don’t have. I’ve spoken to football directors, chairmen and owners from all over the world, I’ve spoken to Manchester City’s owners in Abu Dhabi, and everybody has given their commitment to this plan.” 在欧足联颁布 FFP 的时候,时任主席普拉蒂尼曾表示:“我只想俱乐部基于自己的资源去消 费,不想他们动用一些还没有的资源。我已经跟世界范围内很多俱乐部主席,总监还有所有者探讨过。还单独跟曼城的拥有者在阿布扎比讨论。他们都表示将遵守这个计划。”
WHAT IS FFP? Clubs that wish to complete in UEFA competitions need to obtain a licence in order to do so. Licences are administered by the domestic associations, who must ensure that various requirements set by UEFA are met. This concerns things like youth development, stadium standards, and the employment of certain personnel (a qualified head coach, a doctor, a media officer, and so on). FFP sits within those licencing requirements, and is composed of a set of rules govern how clubs can spend money. There are also domestic counterparts to FFP, which are implemented by the Premier League – “Profit and Sustainability” rules, whichoperate similarly to FFP, and “Short Term Cost Controls”, which impacted salary increases. 到底什么是 FFP 呢?原来俱乐部需要申请必要的牌照才能参与到欧洲的竞赛。牌照由各个国家的足联管理,管理 者必须满足欧足联定下的各种要求。这些要求包括(但不限于)青训,球场条件,特定职位 的人事任免(例如主教练,医生,主要发言人等等)。FFP 也是牌照的各种要求之一,它是 各种规定俱乐部支出规则的统称。在英格兰国内还有其他规则要求俱乐部一并执行,包括 P&S(内容跟 FFP 类似)和 STCC(主要控制薪酬增幅)。
In simple terms, FFP states that clubs are only able to spend the money that they generate themselves, and in doing so they have to meet a requirement to “break even” over a rolling three year period. However, the detail of the rules is much more complicated than this –there are various exceptions and guidelines on exactly how a club can spend. For example, the requirement to “break even” does not in a literal sense require a club to break even at all; clubs can post losses without breaching the rules. 简单来说,FFP 规定只能支出俱乐部自身的经营所得的收入,而鉴别条件是在一个三年的时 间段内保持收支平衡。不过实际上的细节比这表述要复杂得多,因为有很多规则内的例外情 况以及对于支出的不同规定。例如,所谓的收支平衡并不意味着支出必须少于收入,规则允 许俱乐部可以有一定程度的亏损。
This all might seem quite confusing, and in contradiction to the initial messaging propounded by Platini and others at the time FFP was implemented. So where do Arsenalstand? Can the 9th richest club in Europe, the club which recently held more cash at the bank than any other Premier League club, and which has consistently been profitable for over a decade really be hamstrung by FFP? 这些表述有点令人感到困惑,听起来还跟普拉蒂尼在 FFP 颁布之处的声明矛盾。那么阿森纳 的情况到底怎样呢?这家欧洲价值排行第九的俱乐部,这家在英超拥有最多现金而且连续盈 利的俱乐部,到底会不会因为 FFP 而变得缚手缚脚呢?
WILL ARSENAL BREACH FFP IF THEY SPEND BIG THIS SUMMER? Like all clubs, Arsenal have to spend in a way that is sustainable and compliant with the intricacies of FFP. The easiest way to do this is by maximising revenues and posting year-on- year profits. It is widely anticipated that Arsenal may make a loss this year, which is, quiteobviously, not the strongest position in which to be. However, economic cycles vary, and should Arsenal make a loss, this will not necessarily be an absolute impediment to further spending. 如果阿森纳这家夏天有大支出会违反财政公平吗? 跟其他俱乐部一样,阿森纳的支出方式需要持续地遵守错综复杂的 FFP 规则。最简单的方式 就是最大化收入,然后每年持续盈利。不过阿森纳今年很可能亏损,也就是说,今年应该不能以最简单的方式达到 FFP 的要求。不过由于经济周期等因素带来的亏损,并不一定成为进 一步开支的障碍。
To start, FFP is not assessed on a single year basis; it is assessed over a rolling three year period, so losses this year will be aggregated with profits from the prior two accounting years. 首先,FFP 并是不以一年作为衡量标准;它以一个三年的周期作为衡量范围,所以今年的亏 损会跟前两年的盈利一并计算。 New commercial deals will help, and in terms of managing short-term losses, Arsenal couldput the club’s large cash balances to work through financing mechanisms in order to turn the cash held into revenue. For FFP purposes, the fact Arsenal hold large cash balances is not helpful, because the money is an ‘asset’ rather than an income stream; however, there are financing mechanisms which can help turn assets into income, and FFP does allow finance income to be included in the FFP break even calculation. 新的商业合同当然会很有帮助。同时,在管理短期亏损的时候,阿森纳可以利用融资机制把 大量的现金储备转化成收入。在 FFP 规定下,阿森纳单纯拥有大量现金并没有多大作用,因为现金是资产而不是所要求的球队收入;不过有些融资机制可以把现金变成收入,FFP 也允 许某些融资收入作为收支平衡的要素。
Yet if Arsenal do make an aggregated loss, this can also be tolerated. FFP allows an ‘acceptable deviation’ of up to €5m, and this can be increased an additional €30m “excess is entirely covered by contributions from equity participants and/or related parties”. In plain English, this means a club’s owners can cover the loss. Alternatively, if Arsenal had plans for aggressive expenditure which would necessitate short term losses in order to grow the club, they could seek to enter into ‘Voluntary Agreement’ with UEFA. 即使阿森纳最后的总体是亏损,也并非不能接受。FFP 允许的亏损额度是 5m,这个额度最高 能达到 30m,前提是亏损必须由股东或者俱乐部的相关方能全额担保这个损失。也就是,这 个损失必须全额由俱乐部拥有者承担。另一方面,如果阿森纳决定利用整体损失换取俱乐部的成长,他们能寻求跟欧足联达成“自 愿协议”。
WHAT ABOUT THE SALARY CAP? It has been widely reported that the Premier League’s Short Term Cost Control (‘STCC’) rules may have been an impediment to Arsenal’s spending. STCC was a measure brought in by the Premier League to restrain salary inflation in light of lucrative television deals which came into effect in 2013. Under the STCC rules, clubs were limited in the way they could increase their wage bill. It has been reported that clubs were limited to increases of £7m per year, however this is a little misleading, as the calculation of the permitted increase is in wage bill is a little more complicated, weighing multiple factors. Recent analysis by the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust suggested Arsenal had around £30m headroom for salaryincreases based on the club’s most recent accounts. In any event, the STCC rules applied only until the end of the 2018/19 season, with no indication from the league that the rules will be extended further, meaning any obstacle that may have applied (for example, an increase in wage bill of more than £30m a year may not have been permissible in January) has fallen away. 那么工资帽如何呢?曾有报道指出STCC将会阻碍阿森纳进一步开支。其实STCC是英超在2013年,为了限制俱乐 部的薪金支出在丰厚的电视转播的合同下膨胀。STCC限制俱乐部每年的薪金支出升幅。有报 道指升幅限制在每年7m,但是这种说法有点误导。因为计算薪金升幅需要考虑多重因素,比 看上去要复杂。根据最近阿森纳球迷信托的消息,阿森纳目前的薪金支出在STCC的限制下, 大概还有30m的空间。 在任何情况下,STCC应该在2018/19赛季结束。在没有迹象表明限制会延长的情况下,这种 限制应该已经消失(例如阿森纳的薪金支出涨幅在2019年初的确不能超过30m)。
HOW ELSE COULD FFP AFFECT OWNER INVESTMENT?Under the FFP rules, not all expenditure is treated the same way. FFP is designed to promote spending in a way that is deemed by UEFA to be sustainable and to promote the growth of the game. The means that certain outlays are ignored for the purposes of FFP compliance. Therefore, owners, or other investors, can put an unlimited amount of money into certain areas of a football club without worrying about FFP compliance. One of the main areas of exemption is in relation to “Finance costs directly attributable to the construction and/or substantial modification of tangible fixed assets”. “Tangible fixed assets” includes buildings, like the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal’s training facilities at London Colney. At Arsenal, a major area of ongoing expense relates to the debt the club incurred in order to build the stadium at Ashburton Grove. This expenditure is already ‘off balance sheet’ for FFP break even purposes, but this does present a mechanism under whichKSE could invest in the club – either through refinancing existing debt, by improving the stadium, or by adding to the club’s training facilities. There are other interesting exclusions in areas where UEFA is trying to encourage investment. For example, expenditure on women’s football activities is excluded from the FFP break even calculation, as is certain expenditure on youth development (where that expenditure can be directly attributable to activities required to train, educate and develop youth players – so buying the next big thing from Ligue Deux won’t be exempt from the FFPbreak even calculation). Again, this presents an opportunity for investment in these areas without breaking the letter or spirit of the FFP rules.还有没有其他事情能影响所有者的投资呢? 在FFP的管理下,并不是所有的开支都一样。FFP主要是想俱乐部能在欧足联认为可持续的方 式下考虑支出,同时能令欧洲足球业健康发展。因此,某些经费能获得FFP的豁免。俱乐部的 所有者或者其他投资者能在一定范围内对俱乐部进行注资而不用担心违反FFP。 其中一个主要的豁免是”对于建造/改良有形资产的融资开支“。