LALIGA Special: Spanish Football and Javier Tebas' Sustainability Vision

Around two decades ago, Spanish football was rife with financial issues. Many clubs faced financial problems due to the lack of economic oversight. Club owners freely poured funds into purchasing and paying players without any limitations. This tendency ultimately led clubs to incur losses, rendering them unable to pay players and their agents, as well as evading tax obligations.

However, that is a story of the past. Currently, the Spanish LALIGA is one of the most sustainable leagues in terms of financial management. There are no more stories of clubs in arrears in player salaries and taxes. All of that is thanks to the economic control system initiated by LALIGA President Javier Tebas since being elected in 2013.

In general, the system is designed to prevent clubs from spending beyond their financial capabilities. The financial capacity of a club is calculated based on revenue, non-sporting expenditures, and debt repayments.

All of these variables are calculated each season and adjusted for each transfer window. The aim is for clubs to ensure financial sustainability without compromising the level of competition.

This rule or system is also what has caused Barcelona, in recent seasons, to face challenges when registering players. This season, for example, the "Blaugrana" team was unable to field Dani Olmo, who was recently acquired from RB Leipzig.

This is because Barca is in a situation where "the stakes are higher than the pillars" due to past purchases and high salaries for players. In order for Olmo to be registered, Barca must activate economic levers such as increasing the number of premium (VIP) seats in the stadium and selling many players.

"We are a financially sustainable league. So, the clubs have worked hard over the last few years to make sure that the losses they suffered during the Covid-19 period are paid off. This will help us to have more investment in the future when we need to recruit players," Tebas said in a special interview session with Kompas at the LALIGA headquarters in Madrid, Spain, Friday (23/5/2025).

Financial sustainability has indeed become a primary concern for Tebas. Since being elected as the President of LALIGA, Tebas has aimed to ensure that every club is financially healthy. That is why the economic control system became a policy that he immediately implemented after his election.

Tebas, who works as a lawyer, previously assisted many Spanish clubs that were burdened with debt. From his experience, Tebas realized that there was something wrong with the management of clubs in Spain. One of the root problems is the tendency of clubs to squander money on purchasing and paying star players without being aware of their own financial conditions.

From 2014 to 2020, the combined net worth of LALIGA clubs increased by 250 percent.

In the past, almost all clubs in Spain were owned by fans. However, in reality, clubs were often controlled by powerful local figures or businessmen. In the early 1990s, the Spanish government tried to impose greater control by encouraging all clubs to become sociedad anonimas deportiva (SADs).

The transformation into SAD has, in its course, not stopped the president and the club director from spending money beyond their means. As a result, these clubs went bankrupt without being able to pay taxes, salaries to players, and agents. Between 2004 and 2012, more than half of the professional clubs in Spain had entered the administration stage to avoid payments to their creditors.

The situation in Spain at that time is similar to the current state of the Premier League. Unlimited investments from foreign capital owners have driven up player prices and salaries. Clubs are also at risk of spending beyond what is reasonable. However, the difference is that in England, foreign investors are very loyal and are willing to cover the clubs' losses with funds from their own wealth.

Despite its noble intentions, the economic control policy continues to invite both support and opposition. On one hand, this policy can prevent clubs from going bankrupt. However, there are also opinions criticizing that economic control could hinder the growth of Spanish clubs from what it should be.

This is because economic control policies require clubs to adhere to very strict rules regarding how much money they can invest and how that money can be spent. Unlike in England and many other countries, there are no investors who can come in and immediately decide to spend large amounts of money in the hope of quickly strengthening their team.

That criticism ultimately refuted itself. Although Spanish clubs have become less free to bring in megastars, they can at least remain competitive at the European level.

Spanish clubs have won 21 European club trophies since 2013, more than the combined total of all other European leagues. Real Madrid has successfully become the club with the most UEFA Champions League trophies, with 15 titles. Sevilla also dominates the UEFA Europa League with a total of seven titles.

Thanks to economic control, achievements on the field have also translated into financial conditions. From 2014 to 2020, the combined net worth of LALIGA clubs increased by 250 percent. On the other hand, debt obligations decreased from 650 million euros in 2013 to only 3 million euros in 2023. Similarly, unpaid wages to players have drastically fallen from 89 million euros to zero.