Spanish football authorities are trying to bring about more restraint in spending by clubs. The Spanish Football League is trying to introduce a self-regulated system that would limit spending on salaries, transfers and agents’ fees to 70 per cent of revenue. Uefa figures suggest that average club revenues in Spain were €72m in 2008, but their debt was €860m, much of it owed to the banks.
Spanish football authorities are trying to bring about more restraint in spending by clubs. The Spanish Football League is trying to introduce a self-regulated system that would limit spending on salaries, transfers and agents’ fees to 70 per cent of revenue. Uefa figures suggest that average club revenues in Spain were €72m in 2008, but their debt was €860m, much of it owed to the banks.
It is the smaller and medium-sized clubs that have been in real trouble but any reform proposal has to accommodate the interests of the big two, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Italy is moving next season to the collective sale of television rights, leaving Spain as the only major country permitting individual negotiation. The individual sale of rights is a key component of the revenue of the top two clubs (€401m for Real Madrid and €366m for Barcelona) and they are unlikely to want to move away from it. But without such a change it is going to be difficult to solve the financial problems of smaller clubs.