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Ulica 17, 987 65 Mesto
09 / 876 54 321 0905 123 456
info@spolocnost.sk www.spolocnost.sk
Published in Slovak Sport daily
Done. The world record for the highest football transfer fee has been broken. Gareth Bale from Wales transferred from Tottenham to Real Madrid for one hundred million euros and humanity started asking questions. Is he overpriced? How many hungry children in Africa could be fed with that money?
There’s no doubt that Bale is fantastic. He proved it in the Premier League and in European competitions. He excelled in tough matches. But with his national team, he’ll never be world champion—and probably won’t even reach a major tournament. Is it reasonable to pay 100 million for him, more than was paid for Cristiano Ronaldo? By buying him, Real not only gained a great player, but also earned goodwill from fans all over the world. How many millions did Neymar cost Barcelona? “Only” 57? Well, we have the record! Among the world’s top clubs, only Manchester United made a bigger transfer this year.
When in 1995 the European Court of Justice ruled in the famous Bosman case that players could transfer for free after their contract expired, experts warned of a possible collapse of the transfer system built on payments between clubs. They were wrong. Despite the number of quality free agents, traditional transfer deals still dominate. In 2013, a disappointed UEFA president Platini dryly remarked that “transfers are a robbery, players are merchandise.” But with his “dream come true” and especially his agreed salary of 9 million euros a year, Bale surely doesn’t feel like merchandise. The Spurs’ owners were anything but robbed—they immediately completed several large transfers into the club.
The summer of 2013 has gone down in history for the total value of global transfers, as well as the highest individual ones. Besides the number one transfer, there were also the sixth (Cavani), eighth (Falcao), and tenth (Neymar). How do such stories align with the financial losses of most of the more than 600 clubs, as revealed by a UEFA study a few years ago? UEFA implemented financial fair play rules for clubs in European competitions. Starting from the 2013/14 season, a club’s loss over three years may not exceed 30 million euros. Gareth’s transfer fee will be spread over the length of his contract. The English Football Association has also taken action. It adopted its own financial fair play rules for its clubs and a fair system for distributing revenue from television rights. It’s no coincidence that the first, third, fifth, and seventh most expensive transfers in history went to Real, and the fourth to Barcelona. The long-standing distribution of TV rights in Spain—heavily favoring Real and Barcelona at the expense of other clubs—has contributed to their dominance.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer for 94 million euros was not only a sporting success but also, given Real’s income from marketing and merchandise, economically more justifiable than many deals in the 40–60 million range (especially Shevchenko to Chelsea for 46, or Carroll to Liverpool for 41). Gareth Bale will certainly be brilliant at Real too. But how much of that 100 million will be recouped through shirt sales remains unknown.
Critics might be reminded of the sums circulating in American football, boxing, or the film industry. Real will meet UEFA’s financial fair play conditions and will remain the world’s number one football club, with annual revenues exceeding 500 million euros. Platini and Wenger may grumble a little more. And the whole world will be looking forward to El Clásico. Not just Messi versus Cristiano Ronaldo anymore. This year, it’s Messi and Neymar against Ronaldo and Bale.