January 12 – Partizan Belgrade have been banned from European competition by UEFA for the next three seasons in the latest crackdown over unpaid debts.
European football’s governing body said the 2015 Serbian champions had broken rules three times in the past five years and owed €2.5 million in unpaid debts as of September 2016, most of them to social and tax authorities in Serbia.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body said the draconian-looking ban is appropriate given a “remarkably similar set of circumstances” to Partizan’s last debt case in 2013, when the club were given a suspended one-year ban from European competitions.
Partizan were eliminated from this season’s Europa League in the second qualifying round by Polish side Zaglebie.
A statement from the UEFA club financial control body read: “FK Partizan will be excluded from participating in the next (one) UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify during the next three seasons (ie. the 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons).
“This decision was taken after FK Partizan failed to comply with the articles 65(1), 66(1) and 66bis(1) of the UEFA club licensing and financial fair play regulations.”
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