LALIGA has published the latest LALIGA Squad Cost Limits (SCL) for each of the 20 clubs in LALIGA EA SPORTS and 22 clubs in LALIGA HYPERMOTION.
This shows how these limits, which form part of LALIGA’s transparent Economic Control framework, were revised for the winter transfer window.
Calculated individually for every club at the start of each transfer window (summer and winter), the SCL is the total sum a club can spend on its playing squad. It is calculated with a simple equation: budgeted non-sporting expenses are subtracted from budgeted revenues, while also taking into account debt repayments.
In LALIGA EA SPORTS, Spanish football’s top flight, 10 clubs saw their limits increase relative to the first half of the season, while five clubs saw their limits reduced and six maintained the same limit.
FC Barcelona lead the way with the biggest SCL increase relative to their summer window limit (€37.215m), followed by Deportivo Alavés (€7.51m) and Valencia CF (€5.39m), while Real Madrid continue to have the highest SCL in LALIGA EA SPORTS (€754.894m).
LALIGA’s Economic Control framework has been in place since 2013 and was self-imposed by LALIGA clubs who recognised the need to act to secure the long-term sustainability of Spanish football.
The system is designed to ensure that all clubs know in advance how much they can spend in each transfer window. Having an established limit does not mean that a club must spend the full amount. Crucially, it is applied in real time, not retrospectively, and adjusted every transfer window to preserve the competition’s integrity at all times.
Benefits include:
- Increased sustainability: The application of the Economic Control framework has led to a significant reduction in financial problems among Spanish football clubs over the past decade, as the rules direct clubs that are over their SCL towards gradually easing back from debt, and thus help ensure financial long-term sustainability.
- Reduced debt: Debt owed to public bodies in Spain has dropped from €650 million to just €3 million since 2013, and complaints from players over the non-payment of salaries have fallen from €89 million in 2011 to zero.
- Continued competitive success: Crucially, the system has delivered clear long-term benefits to LALIGA clubs over the past decade without harming their on-field competitivity, either domestically or in European competition. Five Spanish clubs have won 21 European trophies between them since LALIGA’s Economic Control system was introduced in 2013, more than the rest of Europe’s major leagues combined
