French football is not the only one to have to face the health crisis and its financial consequences. Its European neighbors are in the same situation. With one difference: if they also have to absorb the in camera and the loss of ticketing revenue, the clubs of the major championships in Europe still reap the television rights, when their French counterparts are weighed down by defection, in the fall. 2020, from broadcaster Mediapro. In this context, the support went more to the clubs of the lower levels than to those of the elite.
In the United Kingdom, the Premier League to the rescue
The British government allocated, in November 2020, emergency aid of 300 million pounds sterling (346 million euros) – mainly loans repayable at very low rates – to “spectator” sports: horse racing, cricket , but also women’s football and men’s National League football clubs, the fifth division, first amateur level. Downing Street, which had granted, in July 2020, an envelope of loans of 1.5 billion pounds to theaters and museums, was slow to come to the aid of the clubs. The argument put forward is that the latter had access, like other companies, to payment by the Treasury for short-time working, set up in March 2020.
The government has also pushed the Premier League, the elite of English football, to assume its responsibilities by helping the rest of the professional clubs, since it collects most of the television rights. After months of difficult talks, the Premier League agreed in December 2020 to help the second-division English Football League (EFL) by advancing £ 15m to secure an interest-free loan of £ 200. million pounds from banks.
The Premier League has also released £ 50million for grants to clubs in the third and fourth professional divisions. According to Financial Times, EFL is in talks with the Bank of England to access its ultra-low-rate emergency loans to the tune of £ 75million, facilities created at the start of the crisis to ease the finances of the country’s large corporations.
In Spain, partial unemployment
The Spanish government has not deployed specific aid for football. He just brought forward the date for payment of subsidies to federations and allowed clubs to play on Mondays and Fridays to increase their income from television rights. A decree, approved in December 2020, allowed the managers of the few clubs which are not limited companies (FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao) not to have to support with their personal assets the losses caused by the health crisis.
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