Debts are destroying them. And yet, they have record revenues

Spanish clubs are in a catastrophic situation. Yet in the summer transfer window, they earned half a billion.

Their debts total €3.5 billion. Some teams have already ceased to exist, and others are under threat. Nevertheless, Spanish football clubs achieved record revenues this summer – at least in terms of transfers. According to the portal AS, clubs from the country of the reigning world champions earned nearly half a billion euros from the departure of players to European teams – the most in the history of the summer transfer window. Spanish clubs were significantly helped to this figure by the transfers of stars Radamel Falcao from Atlético Madrid to Monaco and Mesut Özil from Real Madrid to London’s Arsenal. “Despite the debt of Spanish clubs, the league still features many quality players who are in demand. That’s why wealthy European clubs quickly go after them,” explained football agent Jozef Tokos for the Economic Daily.

Reason for departures? Low salaries.
The reason for this record is clear. Because of indebted clubs, players from the Iberian Peninsula are more willing to transfer to other teams. If you set aside the two strongest Spanish clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona, players in the rest of the teams have much lower wages than elsewhere. “Salaries are the main reason. In average Spanish clubs, a player earns much less than, for example, in average English clubs. And since they have quality, it’s not a problem for clubs from economically strong countries to outbid them,” added Tokos. Another important factor is that several teams in Spain are still threatened with collapse – for example, Deportivo La Coruña, owned by Europe’s richest man, Spaniard Amancio Ortega. “It is up to the club’s shareholders to know exactly how the debt was created, and to decide on the right strategy accordingly,” said sports manager Karel Tejkal for the Economic Daily. One such strategy is the sale of the biggest stars of each team. “It’s a market over which we have no control and no say. However, we are monitoring the debts in Spain and will see how they develop,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter told the Spanish media.

The trend is clear: revenues will grow.
Spanish clubs fell into huge debt mainly because of the lack of rules for sensible financial management. “Elsewhere in Europe, for such non-payment of taxes, clubs would have points deducted or be relegated to lower divisions. But in Spain, teams are not penalised in this way,” explained the football agent. Despite the catastrophic situation in the clubs, the trend of rising revenues should continue – at least for the next few years. Football, not only in Spain, is attracting more and more money. Proof of this is that the two Spanish giants mentioned above are at the top of the rankings of the highest-earning European football clubs. “Football is a product in increasing demand, and more and more billionaires are entering it,” concluded Tokos.