October 5 – While Barcelona were busy confirming they had broken the $1 billion revenue barrier and had profit of €124 million, LaLiga rivals Celta Vigo showed the huge scale of financial difference between clubs in the Spanish top tier, announcing they achieved a €12 million profit last season, and a budget of €72 million for the current season.
Where Barcelona in their annual report put ‘sporting salaries’ at €520 million, Celta Vigo player costs are at €46 million. The club currently lie eight in LaLiga.
Club president Carlos Mouriño (pictured) declared: “The economic situation is very good.” Celta Vigo’s full accounts will be put before the club’s shareholders November 5 when the 2018-19 budget will also be approved.
Celta Vigo has previously come under LaLiga criticism for its stadium and particularly lighting required for televised evening fixtures. The club has also been told to work harder at increasing attendances.
Mouriño said that plans to move to a stadium outside of Vigo are advanced and that the land for a new ‘sports city’ has been cleared with groundwork expected to begin immediately.
He said the move away from Vigo was because the city could not provide the support and services the club needed but it was not a decision he had wanted to take.
“When we decided to take the step of going out of Vigo, as a Vigo I admit that I did not like it. The sports city should have been made in Vigo. It was eleven years of fighting, plans and projects. The night it was decided to look for alternatives outside Vigo, for me it was a bad night,” he said.
He expressed an ambition to achieve 10 years of European football, an ambition he believes is achievable with the current set-up at the club, though he did say it would not be a disaster for the club if it wasn’t achieved.
Celta Vigo is benefiting from the fast-growing internationalisation of LaLiga and Mouriño pointed to a social media following of over a million and growing. He also unveiled a partnership with Wanda in China.
“We are signing an agreement with Wanda. We intend to teach soccer to the children of China and an integration with our culture. The internationalization of Celta is advancing by leaps and bounds,” he said.
On LaLiga’s plans for a US fixture he expressed surprise that the club had been given very little information, but that the club had not put itself forward as a potential US participant.
“We do not know what the matches consist of, the bonuses of the subscribers, the benefit of the club … It’s surprising that the clubs have not been informed of the parameters, so we can not comment,” he said.
“Celta has not offered to play in the US. At the moment they present everything to us, and an important part is the benefit to the subscribers, at that moment, if it were to happen, we could ask the fans for an opinion. As there are no more details, we can not go further.”
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