Filenews 23 May 2025 -by Eleftheria Paizanou
The government has taken a tough stance for the first time in the last year on the debts of millions that football clubs – companies maintain – and are increasing, expecting the repayment of at least the debts they created after the implementation of the repayment plan.
The unions did not pay all the debts to Income Tax and VAT, which relate to the period May 2023 to date, and now the Government must make the big decision today or in the next 3-4 working days: It will give the unions a certificate that they respect the payment arrangement they made with the state and pay the payment instalments, even if they do not do so continuously, or will they refuse this certificate until the end, since there are still overdue instalments and additional debts?
If the Government does the first thing (granting a certificate of compliance for the clubs), the CFA, as announced yesterday, will take a decision today and inform UEFA that the clubs... They do not owe the state and meet the criteria and the state will hope that the unions will pay their instalments from now on.
If the Government chooses the latter (not to grant the certificate of validity of the instalment repayment plan for all clubs), the CFA will have no choice today but to decide that several clubs – companies do not meet the criteria of UEFA and are subject to the severe penalties provided by the European federation.
The big decision
From the above, it is obvious that the time has come for the Government to strike the crucial penalty. It can do it in three ways:
A. To announce today through the Commissioner of Taxation or the Minister of Finance or the Government Representative that the debts have not even been paid after May '23, therefore a certificate of compliance cannot be given to the affected unions.
B. To announce today that it is granting the certificate so that the unions do not have serious economic and militant consequences and to accept the criticism of a large part of the public opinion for withdrawal.
C. Not to announce or do anything. Forcing the CFA to execute the crucial penalty and send the debtor clubs to UEFA's "executive squad".
What the CFA said yesterday
Following yesterday's meeting of the Cyprus Football Committee's Criteria Committee, the vice-chairman of the committee, Christos Christofides, said that today the Cyprus Football Federation (CFA) should inform UEFA if the clubs have paid their debts to the state. The majority of football clubs, although some have paid some money and others have expressed their intention to pay all the debts, remain in limbo, as they have not yet received the official answer from either the Ministry of Finance or the Tax Department on what is to come.
Five days to appeal
As we are informed, in the Ministry of Finance there is strong dissatisfaction with yesterday's developments, as some consider that the attitude of the CFA constitutes blackmail of the state.
According to the vice-president of the CFA Criteria Committee, Christakis Christofides, when the CFA decides whether to impose penalties on the teams, they will have five days to appeal and issue the relevant decision of the federation, which will be notified to UEFA. At the same time, he said that by May 31, the CFA should notify the clubs that will participate in the European competitions. We did not take a position from the state and it is up to the unions to bring us whatever evidence they have for compliance with the criteria. Tomorrow we will make our final decision. The unions could not give us data today. They did not know what was needed and what the necessity was. We have explained what the current situation is.
"The punishment, among other things, provides for non-participation in European championships and a deduction of 6 points from the new football season," he added. Something that constitutes huge financial damage for the clubs that will be punished.
The case is complicated
As we were told, the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Department started warning the unions last year, but most of them did not fully comply and did not repay the full amount of new debts they created after 2023, amounting to €5.3 million.
Paphos, Aris and AEL, although they have committed to pay all their debts, have not yet taken the decision by the Ministry to grant tax deductions and have not paid. However, these unions argue that the reason for the pending is bureaucratic and burdens the state machine.
Apollon and Anorthosis have repaid 50% of their new debts, paying a total of about €1 million.
APOEL, out of a total of €1.8 million. of his new debts, has paid €700,000 and pledged to soon pay another €200,000 at a later stage.
The "Europeans" are also in danger
On the air are APOEL, Paphos, Aris, Apollonas, Anorthosis, AEL and Ethnikos Achnas, but also other teams, for which no mention was made by name by the ministry, as they owe smaller amounts.
Without the certificate of compliance from the Ministry of Finance, the participation of the champion Paphos and the runner-up Aris in European competitions is also at risk (they have debts, they have committed to pay, but they have not yet paid due to bureaucratic procedures that are in progress).
A possible exclusion of a team from European competitions is valid for the next three years that will secure an "exit" in Europe.
Until late yesterday, the CFA did not receive any response from the state to its letters to the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Department, which complicates the situation.
As we were told, yesterday there was a telephone conversation between high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Finance and representatives of the CFA, to whom it was explained how the process will proceed. A competent source told us that if the Tax Commissioner is satisfied with the amount of debts paid so far by the teams and re-includes them in the debt repayment plan, then the Minister of Finance Makis Keravnos will proceed with the issuance of the relevant certificate!
However, lately there has been a backlog in the decision-making by the Government, as the Minister of Finance believes that the decision to reintegrate the unions into the plan should be taken by the Tax Commissioner, while the latter believes that the decision should be taken by the Council of Ministers, which had approved the last plan, in May 2023.
