Roma's UEFA financial fair play position and winter market strategy

What happened

Roma have submitted their accounts for the year ending 30 June to UEFA, but the club's compliance verdict will not arrive in November as might have been expected, according to Corriere dello Sport. The Italian newspaper reports that UEFA, the governing body based in Nyon, extended the deadline to 31 July because the World Cup in the Americas complicated negotiations and transfers. The assessment will also take into account August operations and the cost of the squad as of 31 December, with a final ruling now expected in spring, perhaps between May and June.

Report details

The evaluation will not rest solely on the size of any overspend. Corriere dello Sport reports that UEFA will also weigh the long-term trend and a club's overall behaviour across multiple transfer windows. Roma, the paper says, did overspend somewhat, having chosen to keep all their big players rather than accept lucrative capital gains. The agreement signed by Roma to comply with financial fair play allows a maximum aggregate loss of 60 million euros over three years. The last two accounts showed improvement, from a loss of 81.4 million euros in 2023/24 to 53.8 million in 2024/25, a reduction of 28 million, but the -60 target is not thought to have been met, hence the prospect of a fine.

Despite that, the report describes Roma as on a virtuous path. The gross wage bill has fallen from 189 million euros to around 113 million, and before the most recent transfer campaign it stood at 133 million, a 15% cut. The target remains 100 million. This helps explain the intention to focus on young players and to renew existing contracts, most recently Hermoso, by cutting the fixed portion and favouring performance-related bonuses.

The extended assessment does not change the substance of the Friedkin ownership's operational plan for the winter market, the paper says. A sum of 35 million euros left unused at the end of August is available for a left winger. If D'Amico manages to secure a loan with an option to buy, for example for Endrick, the cost to the squad would be increased only by the Brazilian's salary, leaving room to complete another operation such as a left-back. The report notes that Roma cannot afford wild spending in January merely because it has formally exited the observation window.