Spanish soccer on brink of financial collapse say players

Spiralling debts, unpaid salaries, failure to agree a new television deal and a stagnant transfer market are proof that Spanish soccer is on the brink of financial meltdown says the country's players' union (AFE). "There are clear signs that Spanish football is in a state of collapse," AFE president Gerardo Gonzalez told the union's annual assembly on Monday.

Gonzalez said that 80 percent of clubs in the Spanish first and second divisions had failed to pay their players the full amounts stipulated in their contracts.

He said total debt to players had doubled in the space of the past season and was now estimated to have reached 45 million euros ($52.57 million).

Under existing rules clubs that fail to pay their players up to date by July 31 face automatic relegation, but eight first and 22 second division clubs claim that they have little hope of clearing their debts to players and have called for an extension to the deadline.

Gonzalez said that the financial crisis was even more worrying than in previous years because the delay in reaching a new deal for television coverage and the slowdown in the transfer market meant that clubs had no new sources of revenue.

"There is no television deal at the moment and so clubs are unable to get the credits they need to cover their debts," he said, adding that he would not rule out a players' strike if the problem was not resolved to the AFE's satisfaction.

"The concern amongst players could not be greater," he said.

The Spanish Football League (LFP) recently called on the government to make changes to sports regulations to help relieve the financial problems of first and second division clubs, who it says have total debts of more than 1.6 billion euros ($1.87 billion).

The LFP wants a greater share of profits from the country's football pool, compensation from Spain's Football Federation for releasing players for internationals and more time for clubs to settle their tax affairs.