Soccer-UEFA to force European clubs to make public wages, agents fees
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KIEV, May 24 (Reuters) - Fans of European clubs will soon be given details of how much their teams are spending on players wages and fees to agents, under changes to UEFA's control system.
UEFA's Executive Committee on Thursday passed changes to the Financial Fair Play rules after what it called a "complete and comprehensive review" of the system.
Making public a club's finances will become part of the process of club's receiving their licence and European soccer's governing body hope this will increase transparency about the game's finances.
Some clubs are already obliged by stock market rules or national league requirements to publish their financial details but the change of rules by UEFA will force many clubs to go public for the first time.
There has been concern within European football about the amounts of money being made by agents from transfer fees and the rising level of transfer fees.
Andrea Traverso, UEFA's head of club licensing and financial fair play, said it remained to be seen whether the move would lead to a reduction in payments.
"It is about enhancing transparency – from next season clubs will have to publish their financial information including compensation and agents fees. Whether this will put some pressure on those... we will have to see," he said.
The new rules will also allow UEFA to launch investigations of spending by clubs as soon as a transfer window closes -- rather than waiting until the end of the season or financial year.
"We have introduced a series of measures to become more proactive when it comes to the monitoring of clubs," said Traverso, who added UEFA's Club Financial Control Body would be able to keep a closer eye on the 'sustainable debt ratio'. (Reporting by Simon Evans Editing by Christian Radnedge)
