English Premier League is ‘financially doped’, says La Liga president

La Liga President Javier Tebas at the La Liga headquarters in Madrid, Spain
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Spain’s La Liga president Javier Tebas has said teams in the Premier League are “financially doped” after they spent a record $1 billion in the January transfer window and outspent the rest of Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues by almost four to one.

According to Tebas, the teams in English football’s top division make multi-million-dollar losses and UEFA should intervene to enforce financial fair play rules.

When contacted by Reuters, the Premier League said that the figures presented by La Liga were not correct.

“We read, the “strength” of the Premier League, but it is a competition based on millionaire losses of the clubs, (their ordinary income is not enough for them) most of the clubs are ‘financially doped’,” Tebas wrote on Twitter as he shared a video where La Liga’s Corporate Director Javier Gomez discussed the issue.

“In La Liga what we are looking for is that clubs spend what they can generate autonomously. Shareholders are allowed to support within certain limits,” said Gomez.

“In the Premier League it is the opposite. Until June 2021, the Premiership and the Championship had lost €3,000 million ($3.28 billion), the Spanish La Liga lost €250 million. In the same period, the Premier League and Championship shareholders put in €3,500 million, in Spain they put in €450 million.

“They are doping the clubs, they are injecting money that is not generated by the clubs. This puts the viability of a club at risk when this shareholder leaves. In our opinion, this is cheating because it drags down the rest of the leagues.”

‘Will fight for UEFA to sanction clubs’

Gomez added that the Spanish league will “fight” for UEFA to restrict shareholders and sanction clubs no matter what league or country they are from.

A Premier League spokesperson said that in the period in question the losses were around £1 billion ($1.24 billion), mainly caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with equity injected accounting for £1.6 billion.

In addition, the league’s spokesperson said that £10.5 billion ($12.98 billion) in commercial and broadcasting revenue are secured for the next three seasons and the clubs, who adhere to UEFA-aligned controls, show long-term profitability.