UEFA president Michel Platini has claimed that the recently-introduced financial fair play rules will prevent football from being destroyed.
The new legislation aims to reduce the debt burden on clubs by ensuring that they do not spend more money than they earn.
Repercussions for breaking these rules could be exclusion from European competition and while these punishments are severe, Platini believes that the new laws are a necessity.
"There's no lack of money. Clubs have never spent more. But it's bad financial management. We need to get rules in place and there'll be no backtracking," he said.
"Governments are having to tighten their belts and it's not going down well in their countries. We [at UEFA] probably won't be popular but we have to do it, otherwise football will be destroyed."
Financial fair play laws came into effect this season, with a three-year transition period for teams to break even.
Joe Fish
