One more season of Colombian soccer begins and again Fuad Char began by talking about what the clubs earn from the television contract with Win Sports. And we say again because it has become customary that, in the official presentation of Juniorthe top manager comes out to talk about it.
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And this goes hand in hand with what the journalist has said John Philip Cadavidwho knows the subject very well, because he worked in the aforementioned channel. And that in his first appearances on the Caracol Radio program ‘El Vbar’ in 2023, he has insisted on talking about what happens in handling this money.
This is added to words that other managers of the biggest FPC clubs have said in the past, that they put more fans in the stadiums, that they put more viewers in front of the screen and that they earn the same as many clubs that do not have the backing of swollen or have been in B for several years. Millionaires, Nacional, América, Medellín, to give some examples of clubs that are not satisfied with the distribution of the money that Win Sports gives to Dimayor.
Fuad Char and Juan Felipe Cadavid, with everything against television money in the FPC
On January 6, in the middle of the official presentation of the Barranquilla team, the words of the head of the char family. Strong words, not only because of his position in national politics, nor because of his economic and business power, but because he is Junior’s top manager and the one who makes weighty decisions.
And apart from talking about sports issues, ‘Don Fuad’ referred to the little money received in Colombia for television broadcasts, compared to other countries and the rise in the dollar:
“Colombian professional soccer is very poor. Today, all the soccer teams in the world work for television rights. A European team, call it Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Inter Milan, receive 250 or 300 million euros a year. A Brazilian team receives 150 million dollars a year. Teams like River or Boca receive 80 million dollars a year”.
“Do you know how much a Colombian team receives? Before we received a million dollars, when the dollar was 3,000 (Colombian pesos), today that it is 5,000, that million dollars became 600,000 dollars a year. Nothing, we are the poorest country in terms of television rights in the world”.
(Also read: Junior or Santa Fe? Response from the big FPC clubs to Teófilo Gutiérrez)
A couple of years ago, also at the ‘junior’ start of the year event, Char had presented an international company’s proposal to change the channel and the way to earn money from local football matches. This proposal was not accepted and that is why everything was renewed with Win Sports, something that Fuad Char did not like and that is how he responded when asked about the case: “Nerd. I don’t know (laughs)”.
But the powerful director of the north coast is not the only one who has spoken, since the journalist Juan Felipe Cadavid, today in Caracol Radio, also questioned this issue and the little money that the teams earn. This was last Thursday, January 5, questioning that Dimayor distributes the money from television in the same amounts to the 36 professional clubs:
“They have to organize that in Dimayor and that the teams that have a higher ‘rating’ than other teams, I don’t want to give names so as not to hurt anyone, that according to that they receive the money. According to how many times they play finals, how many times they win and they have to win everything from Dimayor”.
“In Europe they could not understand it, a team can be in first, the other year in second, another year in first, return to second and so on. And win the same as the one who is fighting for the title every year. That the smaller teams understand that Colombian soccer, if it improves in its show, if the big teams start to compete internationally, money will come from many more sides and soccer will grow”.
And the strongest statement was said by Cadavid, anticipating that he might get in trouble for his words: “Colombian soccer is managed like a poor economy, that’s how we manage ourselves. If we can’t be rich, let’s all be poor and it shouldn’t be like that.”.
Diego Rueda, another of the journalists who previously worked at Win Sports, also intervened in the conversation and added some concepts: “For those who stay in category B for more than 3 years, they must remove category A, with that, they don’t rig so much in category B, because they will never want to get out of there… The motto is; if I don’t have, that the other doesn’t have either”.
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But Cadavid continued with the same concept, and increased his analysis on January 6, when he heard the statements from the owner of the Junior. Highlighting that in the Dimayor the ‘boys’ teams are the majority and that is why they vote for the equal distribution of money for everyone:
“The problem is how to vote in Colombia… The vote of millionaires, América and Nacional, which are the 3 teams with the highest audience, public and the most winners in Colombian soccer, is worth the same as any other. If they don’t change that, in the statutes, that problem will always be there. The contract says, we pay them ‘so much’ for ‘so many games’, the distribution of those memories belongs to Dimayor and that is where the change of statutes has to come so that the historic teams earn more than those that spend it between the first and second division ”.
Whether it is for what Win Sports pays, as Fuad Char puts it, or for the distribution in Dimayor, as indicated by Juan Felipe Cadavid, coinciding in the term; “poor football”. And that’s why players don’t last long in the FPC or leave for better offers, discards also arrive from other countries and the quality of the ‘product’ they offer is so low.
