CCarlo Ancelotti verbalized the feeling of continental football once the transfer market closed. “I don’t know when this is going to stop. The goal for all the leagues, not just the Spanish one, is to get closer to them. The Premier has come a long way with the sale of television rights, beating the other leagues. There is a good atmosphere, new stadiums, full, functional and without violence. They have an advantage and the objective of the others has to be to improve these aspects”, declared the coach of Real Madrid.
A reflection after a transfer window in which the English League broke all its records. 2,245 million euros, according to data from ‘Transfermarkt’, that pulverized the 2,178 of the entire 2017-18 breaking any spending ceiling. The combined investment of the other four major Leagues (LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) has slightly exceeded (2,293) a championship in which 10 of its clubs (Chelsea (282 ‘kilos’), Manchester United (238), Tottenham (170), West Ham (182), Nottingham Forest (162), City (139,5), Wolves (137), Newcastle (136), Arsenal (132) y Leeds (110) They have exceeded a hundred.
Only Barcelona (153), PSG (147.5) and Bayern (137.5) have slipped in with the Premier teams in the spending ‘top 10’. They have devastated the rest of the Leagues by buying their best footballers but, why can they? What is its power based on?
The distribution of television income, key
The success of the Premier has been based since its birth 30 years ago on the economic power that its television rights give it. The violence of the hooligans, the old stadiums and in poor condition and the downturn in the First Division made the ‘big ones’ bet on separating from the Football League so that the first category would share the audiovisual money at the beginning of the years 90.
Ancelotti explains the differences between LaLiga and the Premier
Thus, Sky, an audiovisual satellite and pay platform owned by Rupert Murdoch, snatched the rights from ITV for 350 million euros, watering a Premier that started in 1992 with tickets. Since then, television rights have grown to the sale of 12,000 ‘kilos’, counting national and international ones, for the 2022-25 triennium. . . . LaLiga, for example, lhe sold you for five seasons (2022-27) for 4,950.
In addition, the money is distributed equally. In the 2020-21 season, the last with official data from the Premier, there were about 3,000 million (2,958) between the 20 teams. Everyone received a fixed of 99 and the difference was made by their position and their audience. The City, champion, entered 169 and Sheffield United, bottom, 114.5. The same campaign, the total income for the LaLiga teams was 1,444.7, with Barcelona (165.6) receiving the most and Huesca (46.8) receiving the least. The Spanish championship does not stop growing economically… but it is still far from an English tournament that does not broadcast matches in England in the slot on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. in Spain) to encourage attendance at the stadiums. A difficult balance that works.
No salary limit and rich owners
The exorbitant expense of the Premier worries the rectors of English football. According to ‘The Times’, they are studying introduce a salary cap for 2025 and with which they do not have now to adapt to the new UEFA regulations. A control measure so that spending on the sports squad is never greater than 70% and that would include, in addition to player salaries, those corresponding to technicians, transfer amortizations and proportional parts to agents. 14 of its 20 clubs would have to vote in favor for it to go ahead.
Currently, the Premier has its own Financial Fair Play that allows its clubs to compete in UEFA tournaments.. “There are a number of financial rules in place, including requirements for clubs to pay transfer fees, salaries and tax bills on time. They must also file accounts annually and disclose payments made to agents,” she says. League. However, the regulations are more lax than in LaLigaallowing their clubs to have more margin to invest and borrow.
Also, their wealthy foreign owners (only Brentford, Brighton and Tottenham have English owners of the current League) from Saudi Arabia (Newcastle), the United Arab Emirates (Manchester City), the United States (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United)… they spend and bear their losses. However, it is not so ‘easy’ to get a club. Candidates must pass the Premier’s Owners and Directors Test demonstrating their financial viability and other conditions required by the governing bodies of ‘football’ before their purchase is authorized. Quite a strict requirement.
Foreigners and the points system after Brexit
66.6% of the footballers who play in the Premier are foreigners. A common situation for years that has not stopped Brexit. Outside the European Union, the Governing Body Endorsement of the FA is the system by which the work permit is obtained and the authorization that gives the green light to footballers to play in the English League.
A requirement based on a points system whereby 15 are needed to play in the Premier. ‘The Athletic’ explains that the points are more or less depending on the quality of the League, the absolute caps (the fastest way to obtain the go-ahead), the minutes played in their domestic championship and in Europe and the results in these tournaments . There are five categories in which the Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A and Ligue 1 are in the first, making it easier for professionals who come from these tournaments to be signed. This system stopped, for example, the landing of Justin Kluivert in Fulham by not obtaining the required points. The signings of ‘teenagers’ like Cesc are now history.
Premier League (J5): Summary and goals of Manchester City 6-0 Nottingham Forest
In addition, the ‘Home Grown Rule’ requires that eight players out of a squad of 25 have to be English in the Premier teams. Nevertheless, there is no limit of foreign players as in LaLiga, in which there can only be three non-community players per squad. Thus, Wolverhampton lined up in the defeat (1-0) against Tottenham this course an eleven with seven Portuguese! and Chelsea and Arsenal competed in several matches without indigenous players. All in favor of a show that is global, having audiences of 1.35 billion people from 188 countries. There are no borders.
