July 6 – Real Madrid say they will appeal an European Commission ruling that they must reimburse €18.4 million to city authorities because they benefitted from unfair subsidies.
The Commission earlier this week announced that seven Spanish clubs including Real and Barcelona, had been ordered to repay millions of euros after being found guilty of breaking EU state aid rules.
In the specific case of Real, the Commission said the club benefitted from an illegal state subsidy in the form of land adjoining its Estadio Santiago Bernabeu which was handed over by the council in 2011.
Real reject the ruling completely, saying in a lengthy statement that in fact it was the city council who had got the better of the arrangement which saw the club gain access to land required for its planned €400 million stadium expansion.
“In light of the advanced information from the European Commission regarding files opened about alleged state help for various Spanish football clubs, Real Madrid C. F. would like to express the following:
“1. Regarding the agreement signed in 2011 between our club and the Madrid City Council, that had the basic aim that the City Council would compensate itself in the way most beneficial to them, in the case of the a failure to deliver the plot of land B-32 in Las Tablas, as it was public land. This obligation was contracted by the Madrid City Council for the barter execution convention of the Sports City, signed with Real Madrid in 1998. Any other compensation formula would have cost the City Council practically double the value of the plot of land B-32 fulfilled in the convention.
“2. The valuation method used in the cited convention is the only objective method, as it is based in the cadastral [public survey] value, legally obliging for all Spanish City Councils, and therefore is applied in all transactions between City Councils and third parties whether they are public or private. The cadastral value is calculated by the Treasury Department and it is that which is used by the government as it’s the most objective.
“3. It is a surprise that the European Commission have used a valuation made by an architect’s office in Barcelona to dictate their decision, when said firm has little experience in making similar estimates in general and almost none in the city of Madrid. Real Madrid, despite the only objective and legally obliging valuation being the cadastral value, presented in the report a valuation made by one of the most important companies in the world, Aguirre Newman, whose report concluded that Real Madrid had even been under-compensated by more than €7.5 million.
“Due to these reasons, once Real Madrid know the decisions made, will appeal in the Court of Justice of the European Union with confidence that those decisions will be revoked. In any case, Real Madrid, following a prudential accounting criteria, has in their provisional accounts all of the quantities whose reimbursement may finally be obliged.”
Barcelona have also rejected the ruling, insisting it broke no rules.
“Since January of 2016, FC Barcelona is taxed according to the reformed corporate tax code and no longer has any difference in taxation with respect to other Spanish clubs. The club will defend the interests of its members against abusive interpretations of the law,” said a brief statement.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1715195954labto1715195954ofdlr1715195954owedi1715195954sni@w1715195954ahsra1715195954w.wer1715195954dna1715195954