EUROPEAN COURT RULES AGAINST BARCELONA FAN GROUP OVER MESSI TRANSFER TO PSG

On Wednesday, the European Court rejected a request by a French group of Barcelona supporters that the European Commission look into whether Paris Saint-Germain improperly acquired Lionel Messi and endangered Barcelona’s financial stability.

The European Commission is not required to acknowledge the group as an interested party or to launch an investigation into its claim of alleged illegal state aid to PSG, the Luxembourgish court ruled.

A fan group in Lyon made the complaint in October, claiming that teams that had an unfair advantage because of purportedly ineffective financial fair play regulations in countries like France were violating their rights as Barcelona members.

The group’s goal was to curb the free spending of state-owned clubs like PSG and Manchester City, which is funded by the United Arab Emirates, similar to what the Spanish league has been attempting to achieve. The league complained to UEFA about PSG for violating the FFP regulations when it offered Kylian Mbappé a new contract and persuaded him to turn down a move to Real Madrid.