By Monica Villar
May 10 – Sevilla president José María del Nido has again spoken out against the LFP, blaming the league for creating the economic difficulties Spanish clubs now face.
Speaking at a conference, his message centred on the inequality in TV revenue distribution between clubs and the Financial Fair Play requirements that the LFP plans to enforce.
“Football is going through a delicate situation that indicates that come clubs might end up disappearing. The credibility of professional football is at stake. If this doesn’t end in the LFP forcing clubs to obey their rules, we wouldn’t be talking about a complicated situation but practically a ‘technical bankruptcy’ from an accounting point of view,” said del Nido.
He believes it’s a paradox that the Spanish club game can be in such a poor state, but at the same time Spain is dominating at national team level, making history with back-to-back Euro – World Cup – Euro wins.
It’s not news that there is a lack of competitiveness in La Liga, del Nido said. “It’s as much a reality as two plus two is four.”
“We’re last in the world and as TV distribution rights go, we are the most unfair.” 56% of the total income goes to Real Madrid and Barcelona the remaining 44% is divided in between the other 18 clubs in La Liga.
Del Nido, who has been president of Sevilla FC since 2002, emphasised the difference further saying that the top grossing club in Spain gets twelve times more than the bottom grossing club. He compares La Liga to the English Premier League where Manchester United earns just double the bottom earning team. “What I think we should do is centralise the television rights and introduce a more efficient process of sale.”
He took a further dig at the LFP saying that it would help “if we knew the match day and times before hand and not ten days before”. Increasingly central to the TV debate, is that La Liga shows all matches live whereas “in Italy most matches coincide, in England about 50% of matches aren’t televised, in Germany all matches or at least 90%, in France the majority of matches are at the same time and around half of the matches don’t have a television slot.”
Changing the subject, del Nido moved on to Financial Fair Play where he is more supportive of the LFP. “22 out of 36 public limited sports company (a type of limited company that exists in Spain, introduced in 1990 to improve transparency and financial management in sports clubs) are in administration and the debt of all clubs with Tax Authorities is around €700 million,” he said.
The LFP plans to enforce UEFA’s FFP rules and make every club present their earnings, their budget and their expenses. “Only clubs who have their finances in order will be able to increase their budget by 30%, one of these clubs is Sevilla FC.”
“The LFP has taken a very big step. It was necessary and it’s headed towards the right direction.”
However he warns “this will mean some players are paid less. AFE (Spain’s professional footballer’s association) have already started worrying. AFE should worry more about whether player’s salaries are getting paid at all, because there will come a time where clubs won’t be able to do so.
“But for sure, this new rule will affect player transfers. Next summer we will see how many players will get offered contract renewals and we will see less signings.”
Del Nido concluded by sending a clear message to the LFP. “Let’s hope the LFP defend all our interests, as a whole, and not just the interests of a minority, Madrid and Barcelona.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1736713805labto1736713805ofdlr1736713805owedi1736713805sni@r1736713805alliv1736713805.acin1736713805om1736713805. Monica Villar is news editor of leading Spanish football website www.laliganews.tv