After a season of unrest, American-owned French football club Marseille was threatened with a year-long ban from European competitions and a €10 million fine.
UEFA imposed the sanctions by its expert panel that oversees the finances of every club that qualifies for competitions such as the Champions League. The monitoring system was once called Financial Fair Play (FFP).
Marseille, majority owned by Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, missed the financial targets agreed in an earlier round of audits with UEFA, UEFA said.
UEFA acknowledged that Marseille was hit by the “significant and unexpected collapse in domestic broadcast revenues.”
Still, Marseille will be excluded from the next European competition for which it qualifies unless “the club meets the football profit target for the 2026-2027 season.”
Marseille failed to qualify for the next Champions League and finished fifth in Ligue 1 in a season in which coach Roberto de Zerbi was sacked, president Pablo Longoria left and fans protested against the direction of the club that became European champions in 1993.
Marseille’s expected prize money from UEFA for playing in the Europa League next season would typically be half of the estimated 50-60 million euros earned from competing in the Champions League this season.
An additional sanction from UEFA is to reduce the quota of seniors that Marseille can register in the Europa League selection.
In a separate case, UEFA imposed fines totaling 6 million euros on Roma for failing to meet financial targets agreed in an earlier round of settlement talks. Roma also has an American owner, the Friedkin family.
Italian clubs and Serie A have struggled to keep pace with rivals’ rising revenues over the past two decades, especially in the English Premier League.
Published on June 18, 2026
