Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga, attended an interview with Camel Live and once again criticized Manchester City.
“Football is global, and in these European competitions, you have to face clubs with different systems—either they lack financial control or operate in an entirely different way.
But in England, there are already concerns about the debt levels in English football. It’s a competition that operates at a continuous loss. You can make losses for one, two, or three years, but not like Manchester City—losing money for four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten years. Ever since Manchester City came under new ownership, they have been making losses and cheating… or like Paris Saint-Germain, who have posted annual losses of €200 million for seven consecutive years.
Yet we are competing, and our results speak for themselves. In this century, we are 30 European titles ahead of the Premier League.”
Tebas once again emphasized areas that need improvement to better compete with clubs from the Premier League and Bundesliga. He believes that Spanish stadiums should add more VIP boxes in the coming years.
“We are in a good position now, but there are also some major shortcomings. We need to address these gaps to generate more revenue and maintain competitiveness. There are also issues with matchdays and ticketing. Compared to the Premier League and Bundesliga, we have an annual deficit of approximately €600 million.
The biggest gap lies in VIP boxes or premium experiences. Revenue from VIP boxes accounts for 4.3% of total stadium revenue in Spain, 9% in the Bundesliga, and 11.5% in the Premier League. We must solve this problem—and this is one of the reasons we signed the contract with CVC.
This will bring more revenue to all clubs and help them sign players. Our current deficit will need to be addressed once the stadium upgrades are completed. I estimate this issue will be resolved within four years.”
Tebas once again defended LaLiga’s financial control measures and compared the current situation to that of a few years ago.
“Over 200 changes have been made to regulatory provisions. Our industry is always looking to exploit loopholes, which is exactly why we have established rules that clubs must abide by.
Be cautious: Financial control is essentially the same as traditional accounting practices—what revenues do I have, what expenses do I have, and what debts do I need to repay? TV broadcasting, matchdays, advertising… we have four sources of revenue. Ours is the only industry where no club has gone into liquidation. Owing €700 million to tax authorities is a bit embarrassing, isn’t it?”
He also mentioned that after he took office, clubs focused on repaying debts and implementing financial control, with the centralized sale of TV rights being a key measure.
“After the centralized sale (of TV rights) began, a temporary Financial Fair Play (FFP) system was also implemented. We managed to raise an additional £500 million within a year, which allowed us to launch debt restructuring plans while enforcing FFP.
Because without FFP, that £500 million would have gone to players, Ferraris, Porsches, and yachts—rather than being used to repay public debts.”
