Nottingham Forest have had their run-ins with financial regulations in the past, with UEFA being the next organisation set to trouble Evangelos Marinakis.
Remarkably, after a summer of heavy investment, Forest are set to have a wage bill rivalling Juventus and Inter as their European ambitions are clear for all to see.
Of course, this investment comes after the Reds have struggled with financial rules in the past, emphasised when Forest breached the Premier League’s PSR regulations and were deducted four points for their troubles.
The Reds survived this deduction to move into a healthier financial position, but experts are now predicting that Forest will now struggle with the UEFA regulations.
Nottingham Forest expected to breach UEFA financial rules
Marinakis was furious with the Premier League over the points deduction back in 2024, with his £200m investment into the playing staff this summer a clear sign that the rules breach has not knocked his ambitions.
His resolve is set to be tested once more by the looks of it, with The Athletic predicting that Forest will breach UEFA’s financial regulations.
On UEFA’s football earnings rule, the article said: “Even with revenue up, and some conservative judgements on the cost of player trading undertaken over the past year, Forest lost a chunk of money last season.
“Combined with minimal deductions for ‘good’ expenditure, that leaves them a fair way shy of the three-year €60m loss limit. The Athletic projects their football earnings loss could be closer to double that. As with Newcastle, our projection is that a financial penalty looms.”
On the squad cost rule, the piece continued: “The Athletic projects Forest’s squad cost ratio at around 75 per cent currently, above the 70 per cent limit, would put the club in line for further discussions with UEFA.”
The potential punishments for breaching UEFA financial rules
Unsurprisingly, Forest wouldn’t be the first club to breach UEFA’s financial rules, with the outlay required to qualify for European competition in the Premier League often leading to issues for clubs.
So much so that in July, both Chelsea and Aston Villa were in breach of the rules. According to the BBC: “Chelsea have been fined 31m euros (£26.7m) and could be fined a further 60m euros (£51.2m) if they do not comply with the rules in the next four years.
“Villa have been fined 11m euros (£9.5m), with a further 15m euros (£12.9m) conditional on compliance in a three-year period. The punishments relate to a breach of UEFA’s football earnings rule and having a squad cost ratio – the proportion of their income paid out in wages – above 80%.”
The penalty will be a financial one, then, and with the very recent precedent of Chelsea and Villa, it wouldn’t be surprising if Marinakis has already accounted for a potential breach.
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