Uefa's Financial Fair Play rule is relaxed

BERN • Uefa has temporarily relaxed its break-even rule, known as Financial Fair Play (FFP), saying it wants to make sure that clubs are not penalised for unforeseen losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic this season.

The European football body said in a statement that clubs' accounts for the 2020 and 2021 financial years would be assessed together rather than separately, to give clubs time to recuperate from losses suffered during the last three months.

Under FFP, clubs are barred from spending more than the revenue they generate themselves and face fines and possible expulsion from European competition if they break the rules, which were designed to stop rich club owners from buying success.

REUTERS

Court orders Neymar to pay Barca $10m

BARCELONA • Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil footballer Neymar has been ordered to pay his former club Barcelona €6.7 million (S$10.48 million) after losing a lawsuit over an unpaid bonus, the Spanish champions said in a statement yesterday.

Neymar moved from Barca to PSG for a world record fee of €222 million in 2017 but took the La Liga side to court over the terms of the last contract he signed with them a year earlier, claiming he was entitled to €43.6 million.

REUTERS

Wuhan Open will be from Oct 19-25

SHANGHAI • Staging the Wuhan Open later this year will send a powerful message about the city's recovery from the coronavirus epidemic and have an impact that stretches beyond tennis, said the tournament's co-director Brenda Perry.

The central Chinese city was the original epicentre of the pandemic and nearly 4,000 people died from the disease there before it spread worldwide.

But the annual Wuhan Open is now pencilled in for Oct 19-25 after the Women's Tennis Association this week released its provisional calendar for the rest of the year.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE