SAFF approves the start of the work of the founding committee of the Fair Financial Play Law

2022-06-02
13:39:40

The Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation approved the start of the work of the founding committee of the Financial Fair Play Law, coinciding with the financial year of sports clubs and the issuance of financial statements corresponding to June 30, 2022.

The launch of the committee's work comes after it held a number of meetings and workshops with the aim of setting the work mechanism, regulations and timeline for the project.

The Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, at its meeting on November 28, 2021, approved the establishment of the founding committee of the Financial Fair Play Law.

The founding committee aims, in the first phase of its work, to prepare the laws and regulations to ensure control of spending efficiency, contribute to financial stability and create financial sustainability in order to achieve financial balance between revenues and expenditures, through joint work with the Financial Efficiency Committee at the Ministry of Sports.

The committee has set a timetable for the gradual implementation of plans and goals over the next 3 years, to give the clubs the necessary time to adapt to the new phase, which will begin by studying and analyzing the financial statements of the clubs issued on June 30 and extracting financial indicators that focus as follows:

1- Determining an allowable deficit percentage that cannot be exceeded, provided that this percentage decreases gradually on an annual basis, and to be determined later after studying and analyzing the clubs’ financial statements.

2- Determining the percentage of salaries and expenses related to football activity so that it does not exceed a certain percentage of the club’s revenues, provided that it is determined later after studying and analyzing the clubs’ financial statements.

The committee is scheduled to hold meetings with the clubs during the coming period with the aim of explaining the project in detail.

It is noteworthy that the founding committee includes, in its membership, the President of the Finance Committee, the President of the Professionalism Committee and Players’ Status, the Director of the Legal Department of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, representatives of the Saudi Professional League, the Committee for Financial Efficiency and Club Support Strategy at the Ministry of Sports, and an external financial auditor.