August 17, 2022

The brief from today:

French court rules in PSG’s favor

Shortly after Kylian Mbappe announced his extension with PSG—following one year of reporting that he was on his way to Real Madrid—La Liga was one of the loudest critics of the massive contract the French attacker had just signed. The Spanish league’s president, Javier Tebas, was the most vocal when the complaints began flowing in, and he made a point that he would take the matter to various courts in the EU, as well as in France itself. La Liga argued that in order for PSG to convince Mbappe to stay in Paris rather than go to Spain, they doctored their financial records to inflate the club’s value. According to Tebas, the reality was that the Qatari ownership was simply reaching into their deep pockets and personally funding the lucrative contract. Of course if he is right, then that would breach financial fair play rules because the club wouldn’t be financial capable—on its own—to bankroll the astronomical figures Mbappe now collects. As a result, La Liga was convinced that France’s professional football association, LFP, shouldn’t have authorized the contract. What they were hoping for in court was a decision that would confirm their stance, and in turn cancel the contract’s validity. Today, however, the Administrative Court of Paris rejected the appeal from Spain, and instead confirmed Mbappe’s extension. Whether Tebas, and La Liga, will now continue to pursue the matter, following the court’s blow to their efforts, remains to be seen.

French court approves Mbappe’s PSG contract extension

Indian football federation suspended

FIFA has handed a suspension to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) following the violation of a key statute. The breach in question involves third party political influence over the AIFF, which has compromised the federation’s autonomy and independence. The former head of the AIFF, Praful Patel, recently attempted to keep his post despite the body not holding elections to determine their new leader. As a result, the courts got involved and ruled his authority invalid. FIFA’s administrators took over following the suspension of the federation, and now the AIFF will hold elections on August 28 to determine who their new chief will be. Emerging from this suspension is time sensitive because the U17 Women’s World Cup was originally scheduled to take place in India from October 11-30, but if the AIFF doesn’t sort out their affairs promptly, then FIFA has already declared them ineligible as hosts. In addition to potentially losing their hosting rights, the suspension also currently means that any men’s and women’s India teams are prohibited from participation in FIFA tournaments. Until then, FIFA’s statement summarized the progression of affairs as follows: “The suspension will be lifted once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs.”

FIFA taking a firm stance in India