LIVERPOOL (ENGLAND) (ITALPRESS) – Everton has been ordered to pay 35 million pounds (approximately €41 million) to Burnley. The ruling concerns a legal dispute related to the Toffies’ violation of Financial Fair Play rules during the 2021/22 season. The total sum is 26 million pounds in damages and 9 million pounds in interest. The events date back to the 2021-2022 season, which ended with the Toffees staying in 16th place (39 points) and Burnley being relegated to the Championship, who finished 18th with 35 points. Only in November 2023 had the Premier League penalized Everton with a 10-point deduction, which was later reduced to 6 on appeal and applied to the current season’s standings (2023-2024). The commission upheld Burnley’s argument, finding “on the balance of probabilities” that Everton’s financial breach affected their bid for relegation. Everton reacted harshly, expressing “surprise and anger” and announcing an immediate appeal. In an official statement, the board called the verdict “fundamentally flawed in both law and fact,” criticizing the creation of a “dangerous and unworkable precedent” for all of English football.
The club also clarified that any payment will have no impact on the current period’s PSR (profit and sustainability regulations), thus preserving the summer transfer plans of the new ownership, led by the Friedkin group. The fine, the BBC highlights, has reignited the debate on the proportionality criteria of sporting justice, following the London club’s admission of having made strategic payments to unregistered agents, and the £5.5 million fine imposed on West Ham in 2007 for the transfers of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Possible legal action from other clubs relegated in those years, such as Leicester City, Nottingham Forest, and Southampton, remains to be assessed, while Leeds United has reportedly already reached a private settlement agreement with the Toffees.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
