FFP opponents claim victory

Opponents of UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules are claiming an initial victory against the regulations after a court ruling.

A court in Brussels has referred a case submitted by several claimants to the European Court of Justice and imposed an interim measure blocking UEFA from activating phase two of its rules to cut the deficit clubs are permitted from €45m to €30m.

Manchester City are one of the clubs involved.

The claimants include Manchester City supporters and Paris St Germain fans as well as Belgian agent Daniel Striani. Manchester City and PSG were both sanctioned by UEFA last season for breaching the FFP rules, which state clubs in European competition must only spend what they earn, with some limited flexibility.

UEFA is preparing to make its own changes to the rules at an executive committee meeting in Prague next week and those amendments may fall in line with the court's interim ruling.

Jean-Louis Dupont, the lawyer who is leading the case for the claimants, said: "As counsels for the claimants, we believe that this Belgian judgement is the right answer to the FFP issue. Let's have the highest EU court examining peacefully its EU legality.

"We also are convinced that this breakthrough is one more reason for UEFA to adopt - on July 1 2015 - the amendments to FFP it has announced.