Top richest football clubs in Spain 2012

Bar for Real Madrid and Barcelona, a rich club in Spain has become an oxymoron – the dire straits the the football is on Iberian peninsula is well documented and most clubs are on heavy debt – including the two biggest giants. The league is run in an unsustainable way that brings most of the revenue for the big giants which really forces most clubs to sell their assets to make ends meet.

 

real madrid2

1. Real Madrid

But there certainly isn’t any lack of money in the capital of the country – spending 90 million on one player? Easy. Even last summer saw Los Blancos purchase Luka Modric for “measly” 33 million pound just to mostly sit him on the bench.

 

barcelona

2. Barcelona

Barcelona rarely do outrageous transfers and even last summers spending was limited to reasonable buys such as Alex Song for 15 million pounds. The fact that club had to let go of their principle of not having a shirt sponsor tells of the extent of financial stranglehold Spanish clubs are in – even mighty Barcelona had to take the money offered by Qatar foundation.

 

Sevilla

3. Sevilla

Reasonably successful Andalusian club currently boasts debt of “only” 34 million euros which means that in list of rich Spanish clubs it’s actually well off.

 

Valencia

4. Valencia

Massive debt issues have been plaguing Los Ches lately, and it’s no small matter – the towering debt of 500 million euros might end up crippling the club and leading to its collapse. With David Villa, Juan Mata, Jordi Alba and David Silva already sold in hopes of easing the financial strain their only saving grace is decent revenues, good performances on the pitch and Champions League football.

However, this season has not gone according to plan for them and if they miss out on next seasons Champions League, the club might spiral to its doom. The fact that it still is one of the richest clubs in Spain just points out the absurdity of situation.

 

Atletico Madrid

5. Atletico Madrid

Somehow Atletico Madrid continues to function under the impressive debt of 514 million euros. They even manage to attract and sign good players such as Falcao and Arda Turan.

Fact is though that the debt keeps weighing down the Madrid-based club and will likely force it to sell Falcao for big money. That said it still is one of the financially more powerful clubs in Spain and while their revenues won’t warrant such outrageous debt, they still can stay at decent level despite it.

 

Malaga

6. Malaga

Malaga would have been third on this list just a season ago. Sheik Al-Thani provided club with the money to go on a spending spree on summer of 2011, causing the clubs wage bill to soar – and why not, they were backed by the Qatari investors money… except that they weren’t. The tap was turned off, and while Al-Thani remains the clubs chairman, they no longer have the influx of money to sustain an expensive squad, which lead to selling majority of their star players last summer.

However, the fact that they are still performing really well and competing finely in Champions League mean that they will be receiving significant money and can certainly be called one of the richest clubs in Spain. They are in 90 million euro debt, though, but it doesn’t look as bad as many other Spanish clubs – unfortunately Malaga doesn’t as of yet have similar revenues either.

So there you go, six “rich” clubs from Spain. Who are the real richest, most financially well off clubs? Who knows – all the big clubs in Spain are in heavy debt and so are smaller too – Real Oviedo below the top tier was only while ago saved by a huge fundraising effort.

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