La Liga is dying?

AGD

AGD

AGD

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Very interesting article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/28/barcelona-real-madrid-spain

suggesting that despite claiming to be the best league in the world, La Liga has serious problems. To sum up:

- Clubs have a high level of debt:
barca: €350m debt and only made €8 last year
real madrid: €683m of debt
valencia: more than €600m of debt
athletico madrid: more than €300m
villareal: have just failed to play their players
Deportivo La Coruña: more than €120m in debt
Mallorca: desperately seeking a buyer and preparing for administration

Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad have been relegated and, with no parachute payment to break the fall, went into administration.

Also

-It will be harder to attract top players as the huge tax relief for them is being removed (from a 23% tax rate to 43% for the top earning players)

A picture emerges of a league where teams are dependent on local banks and authorities to save them from administration and the league is completely dominated by barca and real madrid.
According to reliable statistics Madrid have 13.2m fans while Barcelona have 10.4m. Valencia are third with 2.1m. Nearly two-thirds of all football fans in Spain support one of the big two. And supporters of other clubs almost invariably choose Madrid or Barcelona as a "second" team.
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and

The dominance is felt most on TV – and that is the crux of the issue, the precarious foundation upon which Spanish football is built. Unlike elsewhere – and even Italy is going collective – Spanish clubs negotiate individual television deals. "The lack of a centralised deal is the biggest problem we face," Tebas says. The reason is clear. Madrid and Barcelona will earn approximately €120m in rights each year until 2013. Last season's third-placed side, Sevilla earn around €20m; Valencia, currently third, make under €30m – less than Portsmouth. Right throughout the league, the imbalance is extraordinary. Competing is impossible.

One headline in Spain recently declared: "La Liga becomes the best in Europe." The "evidence" was two-fold: Madrid and Barcelona's place at the head of Deloitte & Touche's rich list; and the "big two" racking up more points than any other team in Europe. A closer read suggests the exact opposite. Madrid and Barcelona were at the top but there was not one other Spanish club among the leading 20 and their points totals – a record at both clubs – suggest that while they are good sides, maybe the teams they are playing against are not. Valencia, third going into this weekend, were 18 points behind. No other major league has such a gap.
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Seems like the premier league isn't the only one with problems and it looks like those in spain are worse. So what do you think, is La Liga the best in the world or not?
 
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Yeah the debt issue seems to be bad in Spain as it is in England. I think it's more widespread in England through the divisions. I don't think it's the best league in the world, it just has the best team in the world, the rest of the teams are pretty meh.
 
I consider La Liga to be superior to the Premier League but its a swings and roundabouts argument. I'm sort of happy both leagues have debt problems, particularly as my beloved Serie A is in a dire state at present - thanks to the councils and plenty of high-ranking people leaving their hands in the sand for the last 10 years.

The higher taxation in Spain will bring them into line with Italy where Galliani has complained for years that it means the clubs either pay more in wages to top players or risk losing them as they ultimately earn more in Spain.

Real Madrid will never suffer, the banks will bail them out time and again. *insert swear words here*
 
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Real Madrid will never suffer, the banks will bail them out time and again. *insert swear words here*
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It's not even a loan but a 'Royal' gift and RM's TV rights package is moer like a billion $ over 5 years

La Liga has been rubbish for years blows from one extreme to another, years and years of low scored then all of a sudden worse defending than the Bundesliga. Lots of clubs are now in the unenviable position of having ageing stadiums with no way of funding a refit or new build. It is going exactly the same way as Serie A and comparisons can be made to the SPL in terms of old firm style domination
 
Sid Lowe :D

Always read / listen to him re: Spain, his knowledge is amazing :)

Nice guy to boot.

imo, You could apply something very similar to the Premier League.
 
Didn't realise it was that bad over there - RM and Barca always paint a picture of huge piles of cash to spend on absolutely whoever they want.
 
Tute said:
Didn't realise it was that bad over there - RM and Barca always paint a picture of huge piles of cash to spend on absolutely whoever they want.
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Thats because they have it, whenever they want their owners just spend the money and some bank will just not ask for the money back essentially.

Barcelona should be shot for spending 66million euros to lose Eto'o and get someone not as good instead, utter madness, the single best deal in the history of football, and biggest. If Benzema was worth, I can't even remember, 30-40mil, Kaka worth 60mil, then Eto'o is worth 70mil himself, Zlatan worth less if you ask me.

They both shouldn't have been allowed to buy him, nor should they have thought it was a good idea, but because clubs like Barca/Real really don't give a monkeys about the money they basically ignore the cost and just get who they want.

UNfortunatley even though the tax loophole might be closing, 43% is still a lot smaller than the UK and income tax isn't the only high tax here, its a very expensive place to live with "hidden" taxes all over the place. I would guess that aside from the 7% extra you'd earn over there from lower income tax, cost of living would be anything from 10-20% cheaper anyway.

Its always been, financially, a disasterous league. Chelsea's spending over just a few short years pales into insignificance compared to Barca/Real spending in the past 20 years, years ago the sums were vastly smaller, but still massive compared to the "average" prices in Euro football.


THe thing is at some point when enough clubs are in trouble, uk, spain, Italy, France and Germany, they'll probably move to put most games on tv live but at a cost. So they get a massive influx of cash from their supporters paying subscriptions to see all games live. THough rather than fix problems people will probably increase wages and transfer fee's yet again.
 
It's a shame that football is too far down the road of ruin to benefit from a salary cap. The gap will only widen between the EPL and CCC and will ruin any competition. Money talks sadly, and that is what has happened in Spain.
 
drunkenmaster said:
THe thing is at some point when enough clubs are in trouble, uk, spain, Italy, France and Germany, they'll probably move to put most games on tv live but at a cost. So they get a massive influx of cash from their supporters paying subscriptions to see all games live. THough rather than fix problems people will probably increase wages and transfer fee's yet again.
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Too late for Italy - every single match is available on pay TV and that's one of the many reasons, aside from poor stadia (nice one councils!), poor policing and backwards thinking that our (Italian) football sees such low attendances.

In case the question comes up, I'm one-quarter Italian and very proud of that side of my heritage though I've never known that side of my family.
 
One More Solo said:
La Liga is basically the SPL but with two more glamorous teams in place of Celtic and Rangers.
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Not necessarily as the 'lesser' teams such as Valencia and Sevilla have actually won things like the league, UEFA cup etc in recent years. I can't remember a scottish side outside of the old firm winning the title or a european trophy since Aberdeen in the mid-80s. So outside of the top-2, there is a higher calibre of club in Spain than there is in Scotland.
 
HangTime said:
Not necessarily as the 'lesser' teams such as Valencia and Sevilla have actually won things like the league, UEFA cup etc in recent years. I can't remember a scottish side outside of the old firm winning the title or a european trophy since Aberdeen in the mid-80s. So outside of the top-2, there is a higher calibre of club in Spain than there is in Scotland.
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The gap is increasing now though.
 
jakeke said:
The 6th/7th place teams would win the SPL
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Based on what? Current Squads? Of course they would have a good chance.

However, I'd imagine that the 6th/7th placed teams in La Liga have higher wage bills than those in the SPL
 
Just commenting on the 'La Liga is turning into the SPL'

Valencia, Atletico, Sevilla, Villareal, Mallorca are all excellent European teams, they're just unlucky Real and Barca are in that league, as they're both amazing
 
One More Solo said:
The gap is increasing now though.
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Yeh mainly due to the fact that Valencia have more or less bankrupted themselves...rumours are that they will sell David Villa after the WC is finished.

But the quality of the teams in La liga compared to the SPL is much higher though...theres more chance that the SPL is doomed than the La liga.
 
jakeke said:
Just commenting on the 'La Liga is turning into the SPL'

Valencia, Atletico, Sevilla, Villareal, Mallorca are all excellent European teams, they're just unlucky Real and Barca are in that league, as they're both amazing
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I was speaking relatively though- good teams or not, the chance of those sides winning La Liga is identical to the chance of Aberdeen or Hibs winning the SPL.
 
Valencia won the league a few years ago. When was the last time a Scottish team won the league besides Rangers and Celtic?!

I agree to an extent, but it's just like saying you'll never see Spurs/Villa/Everton lift the title here and if it wasn't for Abramovic deciding he needed a plaything, Chelsea wouldn't even be involved in the league battle.

Most major leagues have 2 or 3 teams who win it year in year out.

The biggest problem in Spain has to be the distribution of television funds, it's absurd.

In the last 10 years in La Liga Valencia have one it twice and Deportivo too. In Scotland nobody else has won it in the last 10 years

4 teams have won La Liga in the last 10 years, only 3 in the Prem, would arguably be 2 if it wasn't for Abramovic.
 
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Valencia = Leeds.

They are truly screwed, their debt to equity ratio is the largest amongst big clubs in Europe by quite a bit. Then again, they might be better financially managed than Leeds.
 
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