Barca boss Rosell wants 16-team La Liga
Reuters - Monday 07 November 2011, 15:26
Spain's La Liga has too many clubs
and should shed four of them, Barcelona President Sandro
Rosell said on Monday.
"My opinion is that our league has too many clubs," Rosell
said during a debate at the International Football Arena
conference.
"We have 20 and we should go down to 18, then to 16. This
will mean that all the clubs will be more competitive and we can
reduce players' salaries."
Describing Spanish football as facing huge financial
problems, Rosell added that he was opposed to foreign ownership
of the country's clubs and warned that some clubs could
disappear.
Rosell said Spain would have to change the system of
distributing television money under which the lion's share goes
to Barcelona and Real Madrid, putting them at an advantage over
their rivals.
"It is the only league where TV rights are negotiated
individually and some time in the next three or four or five
years we have to put it all in one pot and make the distribution
the way it is in Serie A and the Premier League," he said.
"This is something Barcelona and Real Madrid are talking to
the other clubs about; we have to listen to the demands of the
other 18 clubs."
He added: "The Spanish league is the second most popular [in
Europe], but we are facing huge problems financially speaking.
"None of the clubs in Spain are in a good position; we owe a
lot of money to the banks.
"[At] Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Osasuna, the
situation is not good but it is under control.
"As for the other 16 teams, some are in a very bad position
and I don't think they will come back; maybe next year they will
go to the second or third division or disappear."
Rosell added: "The most important thing is to reduce the
number of clubs for the future and put financial conditions that
have to be accomplished, also in terms of people from abroad
buying clubs in Spain.
"They are coming to Spain and I don't like this but it's
happening.
"They have [bought] Malaga and Santander and some other
clubs; my question is where we go and if this fair on the
associations when these clubs can increase capital with no
limits."
Rosell said the clubs were the only ones losing out
financially in football.
"FIFA and UEFA and the national associations are earning
more and more money, you have the players' agents and the
players earning more money, but the clubs every year are losing
more money. Something is wrong with the equation."