The league and La Ligue-1 take action against the coronavirus
These are some of the measures that professional football is taking to face the current crisis.
Soccer leagues have taken different measures to face the crisis due to the pandemic. / Photo: Pixabay
LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz
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Leer en español: La liga y La Ligue-1 toman medidas contra el coronavirus
The global economy has been one of the big ones affected by COVID-19. From the resounding fall of the main world stock markets, added to the low price of oil, to the rise in the prices of the dollar in some Latin American countries, among other situations.
One of the main affected facets of human life has been sports. From the cancellation of matches, races, and even the Olympic Games, the disciplines have slowed down and with it the economic income. Soccer, for its part, has suffered a lot because leagues around the world have been canceled; which means that they do not receive benefits either by the box office, merchandise or transmission rights.
Given the seriousness of the situation, several soccer leagues have had to ask for economic relief to have the least possible impact, due to the uncertainty of not knowing exactly when the situation will return to normal.
The situation in Spain
On Wednesday, March 25, the president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, announced the creation of a line of credit for those clubs that may feel the possible consequences of the League break. In addition, both the first division and second division teams will have access to these.
As stated, it is expected that the Professional Football League, through a credit operation, will allocate 500 million euros for the first division, and that "they can have them and finance the postponed term in the next five, six years." Meanwhile, the teams of the Second "B", the Third and futsal, will have at their disposal 4 million euros which will have to be paid in a period of time of 2 years.
La línea de financiación planteada por la RFEF al fútbol profesional es viable
https://t.co/VOxliMYMPj pic.twitter.com/rYDBMR5k4p
— RFEF (@rfef) March 25, 2020
Read also: The transfer market, another victim of the Coronavirus
France also creates strategies
For Ligue Football Professional (LFP), it is important to give a prompt response before the possible sporting and economic consequences that the pandemic may generate. For this reason, the entity announced a financial restructuring plan that involves both Ligue-1 and Ligue-2.
In this way, the aim is to centralize "all the capital needs of clubs", as mentioned by Palco23. The need also arises from the requirement to have a short-term cash flow, "as well as looking for a common framework for action around the salary adjustments that you want to ask footballers to compensate for the drop in income," according to the same medium.
This would not be a novelty, as teams like Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund have agreed to make a salary reduction. On the other hand, and as EFE mentions, the loan would be around 200 to 250 million euros, which will be requested with the guarantee of future income for current and future television rights, taking into account that the organization intends to end the Current season around July 15.
: La Liga Francesa de Fútbol planea crear un fondo crediticio para ayudar a los equipos a solventar los problemas financieros derivados de la detención de la temporada por el COVID-19. Ligue 1 pedirá un crédito entre 200 y 250 millones de euros cuyo aval serán los…(1/2) pic.twitter.com/i2k2ZwpwvZ
— José Juan Vázquez (@josejuanvazkez) March 30, 2020
These measures allow football clubs to have solutions to the crisis they face by not obtaining the million-dollar sums from ticket sales and other benefits they gain when the season is played, not counting the possible devaluation of the players since the teams are not willing to pay the exorbitant figures that we saw just a few months ago.
