La Liga has reduced Barcelona’s wage cap from €671 million last season to €382.7m this season, a fall of €288.3m in the wake of the financial pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Barcelona will have nearly €383 million to spend on salaries, compared to €671 million euros last season. Madrid has the biggest cap this season at €468 million, down from €641 million euros a year ago, while Atletico Madrid are at €252.7m from €384.5m.
The wage caps that La Liga have imposed on other clubs include Sevilla at €186 million, Villarreal €145 million and Valencia at €103 million euros. Promoted Elche will have the smallest salary cap at €34 million euros ($40 million).
Overall, the total wage limit for all 20 La Liga clubs is €2.33bn, down €610m on last season.
Each club already knew theirs, but La Liga have released the figures today for reasons of transparency.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on the figures available to each club, with Barcelona harmed more than anyone else.
Javier Tebas, La Liga’s president, had already made clear the serious economic problem that the pandemic has caused Spanish football and spoke to Marca of the need to reduce expenses.
“We still have excess spending of about €500m because clubs can’t move on players with contracts,” he said. “An exercise has been made to reduce salaries. The most affected in Spain are Valencia, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
“The bigger the club, the more it will be affected. It’s going to be difficult for players to join in the winter market.”
Tebas said the return of fans to stadiums will be key to helping clubs start generating more revenue. He also noted that the Spanish league will continue to be at a disadvantage over other leagues because of tax issues and restrictions on advertising from online betting companies.
La Liga introduced the salary cap measures in 2013 to ensure that clubs were managed stricter from a financial standpoint — notably in terms of salaries — and the limits imposed by the leagues cover senior, reserve and youth players, as well as satellite clubs and academy systems
