Bit of a shambles how the Spanish league is run alright. How can they earn less than Ligue 1 from television rights ffs????
La Liga in crisis as players strike over cash row
By PETE JENSON
Spanish football was looking pretty good on Wednesday night. Forget the 35-man brawl for a moment and think about the sheer wealth of talent on display. In fact, forget about the wealth of talent and just think about the sheer wealth.
It was Barcelona – estimated annual revenue of 400m euros – up against Real Madrid – estimated annual revenue 440m euros.
But beyond the two richest clubs in the world there stands a league in crisis, a nation of footballers on strike.
Cesc Fabregas will miss out on making his league debut on Sunday against Malaga because all players in the top two divisions having agreed to neither play matches, nor, in theory, train.
Half the teams in the first division were still without shirt sponsorship for next season when the last campaign ended.
Half are in, or on the brink of, administration and around 200 professionals are owed around 50m euros in unpaid wages dating back as far as two years.
Bankrupt clubs have broken contracts affecting players who often earn no more than 50,000 euros a year – not bad until you factor your career being over at 35.
This weekend's strike is an embarrassment for the country that currently boasts the World and European Champions at senior and almost every other level. It's also a wake-up call.
The president of the player's association Luis Rubiales says: 'We don't want money we just want what we are owed.'
They are also calls for something that would fundamentally change football in Spain – automatic relegation for any team going into administration.
Mallorca were aggrieved when UEFA kicked them out of the Europa League because of their debts - oblivious to the fact that punishments for teams who default on payments are standard practice elsewhere in Europe.
The sad thing for the players who desperately need this strike to work is that it probably won't.
Villarreal have a Champions League game on Tuesday. Barcelona are playing their annual Gamper Trophy friendly on Monday. The friendly goes ahead and so does Villarreal's training sessions leading up to what is such a financially important match.
Players have been told that because they are set to miss the first week of the season those fixtures will now be squeezed into the Christmas period meaning no mid-winter break in Spain. Missing out on the traditional week off was a potentially strike-breaker survived but there are more tests ahead.
When the strike runs into next week how long before questions are asked of how this might affect Spain's chances in next summer's European Championship.
Fixture congestion is the last thing national team coach Vicente Del Bosque will want in a tournament year. The top tier will not hold out for long and without the stars, the industrial action has little impact.
There is another meeting planned for today that comes too late to save this weekend's fixtures but could still produce a package of sorts that will be reluctantly accepted.
A far bigger decision needs to be made if Spanish football is to permanently dig itself out of the hole it's in. Television revenue must be shared more evenly.
Last season Real Madrid received 136m euros from television money while down in mid-table Getafe received 6m.
Clubs are allowed to negotiate deals unilaterally leaving smaller sides with little or no chance of brokering an acceptable deal.
Despite boasting the two biggest names in world football and almost the entire World Cup winning squad La Liga earns less money from television than Ligue One in France and almost half of that earned by the Premier League.
Punishment for teams who go into administration and a fairer distribution of television money will have to come.
Last year it was 100 players owed 12million this year it is 200 owed more than 50m. No-one will be surprised if Real Madrid and Barcelona end up contesting next season's Champions League final in Munich but how many Spanish clubs will have gone to the wall before the big two take to the pitch.
La Liga in crisis as players strike over cash row
By PETE JENSON
Spanish football was looking pretty good on Wednesday night. Forget the 35-man brawl for a moment and think about the sheer wealth of talent on display. In fact, forget about the wealth of talent and just think about the sheer wealth.
It was Barcelona – estimated annual revenue of 400m euros – up against Real Madrid – estimated annual revenue 440m euros.
But beyond the two richest clubs in the world there stands a league in crisis, a nation of footballers on strike.
Cesc Fabregas will miss out on making his league debut on Sunday against Malaga because all players in the top two divisions having agreed to neither play matches, nor, in theory, train.
Half the teams in the first division were still without shirt sponsorship for next season when the last campaign ended.
Half are in, or on the brink of, administration and around 200 professionals are owed around 50m euros in unpaid wages dating back as far as two years.
Bankrupt clubs have broken contracts affecting players who often earn no more than 50,000 euros a year – not bad until you factor your career being over at 35.
This weekend's strike is an embarrassment for the country that currently boasts the World and European Champions at senior and almost every other level. It's also a wake-up call.
The president of the player's association Luis Rubiales says: 'We don't want money we just want what we are owed.'
They are also calls for something that would fundamentally change football in Spain – automatic relegation for any team going into administration.
Mallorca were aggrieved when UEFA kicked them out of the Europa League because of their debts - oblivious to the fact that punishments for teams who default on payments are standard practice elsewhere in Europe.
The sad thing for the players who desperately need this strike to work is that it probably won't.
Villarreal have a Champions League game on Tuesday. Barcelona are playing their annual Gamper Trophy friendly on Monday. The friendly goes ahead and so does Villarreal's training sessions leading up to what is such a financially important match.
Players have been told that because they are set to miss the first week of the season those fixtures will now be squeezed into the Christmas period meaning no mid-winter break in Spain. Missing out on the traditional week off was a potentially strike-breaker survived but there are more tests ahead.
When the strike runs into next week how long before questions are asked of how this might affect Spain's chances in next summer's European Championship.
Fixture congestion is the last thing national team coach Vicente Del Bosque will want in a tournament year. The top tier will not hold out for long and without the stars, the industrial action has little impact.
There is another meeting planned for today that comes too late to save this weekend's fixtures but could still produce a package of sorts that will be reluctantly accepted.
A far bigger decision needs to be made if Spanish football is to permanently dig itself out of the hole it's in. Television revenue must be shared more evenly.
Last season Real Madrid received 136m euros from television money while down in mid-table Getafe received 6m.
Clubs are allowed to negotiate deals unilaterally leaving smaller sides with little or no chance of brokering an acceptable deal.
Despite boasting the two biggest names in world football and almost the entire World Cup winning squad La Liga earns less money from television than Ligue One in France and almost half of that earned by the Premier League.
Punishment for teams who go into administration and a fairer distribution of television money will have to come.
Last year it was 100 players owed 12million this year it is 200 owed more than 50m. No-one will be surprised if Real Madrid and Barcelona end up contesting next season's Champions League final in Munich but how many Spanish clubs will have gone to the wall before the big two take to the pitch.
