Atletico insists on need to change organisation of Spanish football

Madrid, Sep 6 (IANS):

Atletico Madrid’s Director General, Miguel Angel Gil has launched another attack on the organisation of the Spanish football league.

Atletico won the Europa League last season and defeated Chelsea 4-1 Friday to lift the European Supercup, thanks in part to a stunning hat-trick from Radomal Falcao, but Gil sees little hope for the future of his and the majority of Spanish clubs unless something is done to change the distribution of TV money, reports Xinhua.

Real Madrid and FC Barcelona currently earn over three times more than any other club in Spain from television money, something which goes a long way to explain why these two clubs have dominated La Liga.

Madrid last season finished with 30 points ahead of third place Valencia while Barca were five points behind the champions.

“In three years there will not be any great players left other than those and Madrid and Barca,” Gil warned Wednesday.

“We have to change things so that the other 18 clubs in La Liga don’t just have to survive on crumbs, because with the arrival of owners from Qatar, Abu Dhabi or Russia, the 10 or 15 best players in the world will be able to continue asking for the wages they want. They will play in China, Paris Saint Germain or Manchester City,” said Gil, who saw the organisation of the English Premier League as the idea to follow.

The Premier League has a more equal distribution of TV money with the clubs negotiating a collective deal rather than each team negotiating its own contract.

“The Premier League has created an image for its trademark and thanks to their international TV rights, the clubs share out three times more money than in Spain.”

“I am convinced that this season Madrid and Barca will once again finish 30 points ahead of the team in third place,” continued Gil, who also questioned the policy of mid-day kick off times in Spain, which are meant to help the Primera Liga tap into the Asian market.

“Has anyone told us how many people watch these games in China? And if they are aimed at opening up the market, how come Barca have never played at mid-day and Real Madrid have only done so a couple of times,” he asked.