Notizie

Rodri Baster, founder and director of football as Promoesport, analyses the impact of the coronavirus on football for MARCA.

We're already seeing examples of how football is being affected financially be the coronavirus crisis with various clubs filing for ERTEs or other wage adjustments. But, away from the short term, I believe big clubs will be more affected than small clubs in the long term.

The impact of coronavirus will be devastating for all clubs if the season doesn't get completed because of the lack of TV revenue. But the will of everyone, starting with UEFA, who have postponed Euro 2020 and all international matches, is to draw up a calendar that enables domestic leagues, as well as the Champions League and Europa League, to get finished.

Furthermore, the clubs that will be harmed most will be those like Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid. In average-sized and smaller clubs, the impact will be less because their main source of income comes from TV rights. Between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of their budgets comes from TV money. At the big clubs, it's only about 25 per cent. Big clubs rely on other sources of income like ticketing, merchandise, stadium and museum tours, among other things, which means they'll be incredibly affected.

Small clubs have learned how to adapt over the years, reinventing themselves in order to survive situations where their budget is cut. They'll adjust wages, transfers and financial control will stop them going into big debts.

Smaller leagues like in Turkey, Greece or China, among others, that don't have control over their finances could suffer more. As a result, some of the players who play in those leagues might not get paid at all.

Read directly in MARCA.