Soccer-Premier League is ‘financially doped’, says LaLiga president

(Reuters) – Spanish La Liga president Javier Tebas has said Premier League sides are “financially boosted” after spending a record $1 billion in the January transfer window and overtaking the rest of the “big five” European leagues by nearly four to one.

According to Tebas, teams in English football’s top division are suffering multi-million dollar losses and UEFA should step in to enforce financial fair play.

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

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

“In the Premier League it’s the opposite. Until June 2021, the Premiership and the Championship had lost 3000 million euros ($3.28 billion), the Spanish La Liga lost 250 million euros. In the same period, the shareholders of the Premier League and the Championship invested 3500 million euros, in Spain they invested 450 million euros.

“They are doping the clubs, they are injecting money that is not generated by the clubs. It jeopardizes the viability of a club when that shareholder leaves. In our opinion, it is cheating because let that drag down the rest of the leagues.

Gomez added that the Spanish league will “fight” for UEFA to restrict shareholders and sanction clubs regardless of the league or country they come from.

The Premier League was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.

($1 = 0.9158 euros)

(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Toby Davis)