Lausanne – Europe’s leading clubs are in ruder financial health than ever before, according to a study published on Sunday by UEFA, which indicates that top-division football on the continent has become profitable for the first time on record.

In 2017, European clubs reported a combined total of €600 million in profits after transfers were taken into account, said the study, seen by AFP, into the impact of financial fair play (FFP) rules.

The figure compares to losses of €1.7 billion in 2011, the year in which European football’s governing body introduced FFP. Even in 2016, European clubs lost a combined €300 million.

The figures are taken from a compilation of the financial results of some 718 top-division clubs across 54 leagues in Europe.

“This clearly demonstrates that financial fair play works,” insisted UEFA’s Slovenian president Aleksander Ceferin.

FFP was brought in to ensure that clubs competing in European competitions do not spend more than they earn, or post losses of more than 30 million euros over three seasons.

Any club violating these rules can face sanctions from UEFA, with punishments including bans from European competitions or bans from signing players.

Among the clubs to have come under scrutiny from UEFA for possible breaches of FFP are French champions Paris Saint-Germain and seven-time European Cup winners AC Milan.

But clubs have also been helped by the fact that incomes are greater than ever before — total top-flight club revenue in 2017 reached a record €20.1 billion, up €1.6 billion on the previous year.

These revenues have multiplied by seven since 1996, largely thanks to huge increases in television deals.

Accordingly, the study shows that spending on transfers has risen enormously among European clubs, with 95 percent more being committed last year compared with 2014.

However, the study also shows that, for the fourth time in five years, revenues increased at a faster rate than wages.

“This success, this new stability is a result of the work done by UEFA and its member associations in introducing licensing systems including cost control mechanisms which have yielded much improved financial discipline,” added Ceferin.

“Financial fair play has provided the platform for clubs to control their costs and pay their debts,” he went on, saying that UEFA will continue to look to “strengthen regulations further”.

METAIRIE, La. — The New Orleans Saints promoted running back Jonathan Williams to their active roster and released veteran offensive lineman Jermon Bushrod on Saturday as they continued a weeklong roster shuffle at both positions.

• Whether they’re inciting a feud or just gasps from the crowd, when this Buccaneers receiver and Saints cornerback clash, it’s worth watching.

• 

  Without cornerback Brent Grimes, who will miss Sunday’s season opener after suffering a groin injury in Friday’s practice, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have to shuffle their secondary against the New Orleans Saints.

Monaco – UEFA are set to wait until next season before introducing Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the Champions League, although they are still not ruling out having it in this season’s final, president Aleksander Ceferin said on Friday.

Ceferin has so far resisted calls to bring VAR into Europe’s elite club competition, despite the system largely proving successful at the World Cup in Russia.

It has also been introduced in Spain’s La Liga and Ligue 1 in France this season, with those leagues following on from the German Bundesliga and Serie A in Italy, although the English Premier League has also been more cautious.

“For me, VAR is not completely clear for now, but we also know that there is no way back anymore, technology will come sooner or later,” Ceferin told journalists in Monaco, where the Champions League group-stage draw was held on Thursday.

“The plan for now is to use it from the next season, with the first match which is the Super Cup,” he added.

Logistical challenge

That match is due to be played in Istanbul on Aug. 14, 2019, and the Champions League will then bring in VAR from the playoff round later the same month.

“When we are ready we will use it, but it is not so easy because we have to choose the provider, it is not easy to organise a competition across the continent with all the referees, so we have some issues,” said Ceferin.

There had been reports that VAR could come in from the latter stages of this season’s competition, but UEFA’s Slovenian president now says that it is unlikely to be seen even in the final in Madrid next June.

“I’m not ruling it out but for now it doesn’t look like it will happen.”

UEFA’s biggest concern is how they can effectively run the system in a competition that spans an entire continent – at the World Cup, FIFA used a centralised system based in Moscow, but doing the same thing with matches being played in different countries is far more complex.

“It’s really much more problematic than it looks. We really have a huge territory, we have different countries. We don’t know yet how to do it,” added Ceferin.

“The plan is to do it next season, but let’s see what happens, I don’t want to predict anything 100 percent.”

Nevertheless, it seems certain that UEFA will wait a further year before the Europa League follows suit, just as the continent’s secondary club competition waited before introducing goal-line technology (GLT).

Giorgio Marchetti, the organisation’s deputy general secretary, admitted that VAR was “obviously not impossible but very complex, and requires a lot of planning.”

“The Europa League would follow exactly like GLT, because of this complexity of the operations,” he said, confirming that the idea would be to wait another season.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn said Friday that “yes,” he was happy with the variety in offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian’s red zone playcalling despite the team going 1-for-5 in the red zone during Thursday night’s 18-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Falcons managed just nine points on those five red zone opportunities, with a 9-yard touchdown run by Tevin Coleman and a 21-yard field goal by Matt Bryant. Bryant missed the extra point on Coleman’s red zone score.

“I was pleased with the variety in terms of calling plays, especially down in the red zone,” Quinn said Friday after watching the tape. “There’s certain ones that you could do from the 5 [yard line] to the 10. When you get back, get a little bit further, you can throw over the top of somebody still. When you’re down closer, obviously you can’t throw over a defender anymore. Back line is good. Outside toward the pylon is good.

“So, we were pleased with ‘where.’ What we were not pleased with was the execution of it. That’s not to say it’s just players. That’s all of us: getting the right design, the right training. … Our execution will be better. I reminded the guys [Thursday] night is not going to define the year in the red zone. It just showed we’ve got plenty of work ahead of us to do.”

Matt Ryan admitted to having a poor outing and was 1-for-8 for 3 yards in the red zone, with an interception on a ball intended for Julio Jones. He missed running back Devonta Freeman on what should have been a touchdown pass during a third-and-goal play from the Eagles’ 1-yard line on the team’s first series. The Falcons got the matchup they wanted after Ryan motioned Freeman out of the backfield, but the throw was off the mark.

The Falcons did not target Calvin Ridley, the first-round draft pick from Alabama, in the red zone versus the Eagles. They ran the ball five times in the red zone for 16 yards and the Coleman score.