Dortmund CEO: PSG owners would 'laugh' at Financial Fair Play fines

Fining a team like Paris Saint-Germain for Financial Fair Play violations would make no sense, according to Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Deducting points, he said, would send the right message.

Ever since signing Neymar for a world-record €222-million fee, PSG has come under heavy criticism from European rivals. They see the club's free-spending ways as a brazen affront to UEFA's cost-cutting measures.

At severe risk of drawing UEFA's ire, PSG still managed to strike a favourable loan deal for Kylian Mbappe on transfer-deadline day.

The Qatari-backed capital club was hit by an initial €60-million fine in 2014 for contravening FFP, but Watzke said a similar response in 2017-18 would achieve nothing.

"What you should not do: Fine them. It's the biggest nonsense ever to impose a fine on Paris. They laugh at it in Qatar," Watzke told German outlet T-online, courtesy of ESPN FC. "Deduct points. The world would look different then. But that's UEFA's business."

Neymar's transfer to PSG had a direct effect on Dortmund this summer. In searching for the Brazilian's replacement, Barcelona eventually signed Ousmane Dembele from the Bundesliga side for €105 million.

Dortmund has good reason to feel upset with UEFA's model. Restricted by a tighter budget, the club's had to sell off significant talent to remain self-sufficient. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ilkay Gundogan left for Manchester United and Manchester City, respectively, last year, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came close to joining AC Milan this summer.

UEFA said it has the power to ban repeat offenders from participating in the lucrative Champions League. Whether it ever takes that kind of action is another question.