How La Liga’s Financial Crisis has Been Revealed by One Club Alone... From Poland

How a Polish Relegation Candidate has Shone a Light on La Liga's Financial Crisis

The Ekstraklasa isn't a division people often associate with big spenders or, and I mean no offence to fans of Polish football fans, often think about at all.

Yet the first division in Poland has attracted an unprecedented flurry of attention over the last few days, with fans the world over completely baffled not only by how tight the league table is, with just 11 points dividing first and 18th, but also that national giants Legia Warsaw are floundering down in the relegation zone.

That's a great story in itself, but stay with me here.

Keep your gaze firmly fixed on the bottom half of the table, in particular at Widzew Łódź, a side battling relegation who have been, for the most part, stuck in the lower-mid table in recent seasons.

(FotMob)

Łódź have spent, in this transfer window, €11,2 million, which is a pretty respectable number for a Polish first division side, but nothing to really bat an eyelid at, right?

That figure becomes interesting when you compare it to the total spend of the entire Spanish first division, La Liga, where all clubs combined have spent €10,85m.

Now before you say the window is still open, yes, there is time for clubs to splash a bit more cash, but for a struggling Polish side to be outspending what is supposed to be one of the best leagues in the world after the first four weeks of the window being open, then questions certainly need to be asked.

So why is there so little money being spent in La Liga? Should we be concerned about the future of the division as a result?

Javier Tebas, The Restriction King

Javier Tebas was elected as the President of La Liga in 2013, with the league in a difficult financial situation and undergoing a bit of a PR crisis, with match-fixing allegations rife in the top two divisions at the time.

The main theme of Tebas' tenure has been to restrict the financial freedoms of each club in the two highest tiers, forcing them to adhere to strict economic regulations to constructively remove debt and eliminating late payments to players and staff.

Barcelona didn't seem to get the memo, more on that later.

He is of the opinion that his tough authority on spending caps is a way of protecting the league and the financial security of every club involved, negating the possibility of economic crises so long as his rules are followed.

Fun fact

This window La liga is 34th place in spending money in europe

2nd division of Bundesliga, Serie A and 2nd division of PL spend more money

Laligamichael told me Tebas is doing a good job tho

— Nesstraat (@LY5224) January 24, 2025

The gist of the idea was that clubs could only spend money that they generated, which on paper, makes sense.

In all fairness to Tebas, when you compare the state Spanish football was in when he came into the job, he's done an unbelievable job at turning La Liga from a division in meltdown to a very financially responsible bunch.

Such a strict system was brilliant at serving its purpose, instilling economic reform, but the cracks are beginning to show.

The result of this has been, evidently, a huge reduction in overall spending power across the league, which has fans worrying that the league is going to be left behind in the midst of record spending in other parts of Europe.

Less Money, More Problems?

January is a time when clubs typically spend less on transfers because, well, why wouldn't you spend it in the summer to strengthen for the season ahead?

This was a sentiment echoed by Joe Savage, the former sporting director at Hearts, when talking to the BBC.

"I don't see how you can sort of be able to save a million pounds or leave a million pounds just for the backup for the January window because you won't want to strengthen as much as possible to abandon the current window that you're in."

Despite that, such a low figure across 20 clubs has got to be reason for concern. Looking at summer spending habits will only cement those worries.

The summer window of this season, 25/26, saw the Premier League shell out a combined £3.087 billion, breaking the record for the highest amount spent in a single window by one division, the previous one also belonging to the Prem.

Meanwhile, in other major footballing divisions, Serie A spent over £1 billion, and Bundesliga spent £739 million.

Where does Spain come into this? A total of £592 million, significantly lower than their European counterparts.

Money spend on transfers between
01.07.2020-31.07.2025

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Premier League: €14.88B
🇮🇹 Serie A: €6.21B
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: €4.17B
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: €3.79B
🇪🇸 La Liga: €3.114B

— 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙨𝙞 🇩🇪🇦🇱 (@shemsifcb) July 31, 2025

Of course, that's not a good sign, but wait! Just two clubs, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, spent a combined £306 million, meaning more than half of the spending power of the division belonged to just them. It just gets worse, doesn't it?

Not only that, but clubs are, in certain areas, being harmed to extreme levels by an inability to spend, particularly in their women's teams.

Underfunding has become commonplace as short-term financial adherance is key, and unfortunately, right now men's football simply brings in more money than women's, so clubs are forced to invest into what will increase revenue.

Obviously though, that restricts the growth of the women's game in Spain, and means it will become even more difficult for their teams to bring in revenue, creating a vicious cycle that leaves female fans feeling disregarded, and rightly so.

La Liga in terms of infrastructure, money & overall display isn't better than Serie A or bundesliga right now. Tebas has completely ruined La Liga.

— Sami 🇹🇷🦇 (@SamiRmcf15) August 31, 2025

The main implementation from Tebas has been revolutionary in protecting the finances of clubs, but enhancing issues like this.

What is the Squad Cost Limit?

According to La Liga, their Squad Cost Limit (SCL) is the maximum amount that each club is able to spend during the course of the season following on from the summer transfer market.

Twice per year, before each transfer window, every club has to submit their financial reports to the league, detailing their revenue, any potential debts and their projected expenses and income from transfer dealings.

Alongside their financial report, clubs propose their individual maximum squad costs to La Liga, where a validation body either approves or rectifies the maximum level each club is allowed to spend at, according to their economic capabilities.

This includes spending on transfers, manager and coach signings/reimbursements, salaries, agent fees, youth system etc.. Essentially, everything it takes to run a football club must be under the provided level of squad cost.

Any additional revenue that a club generates gives them the opportunity to request an increase to their SCL, but they must also prove that their financial dealings and practice is sustainable enough to support a higher spend with no repercussions to the club's health.

Failure to adhere to the spending cap results in immediate financial sanctions for the offending club, or in some occasions restrictions in how the club is allowed to operate, which forces them to spend with more discipline in the following season.

This leads nicely into a high-profile example of failure to get finances in order.

FC Barcelona - A Cautionary Tale

We could write an entire series of pieces about Barcelona's mismanagement and financial crises, so I'll do my best to keep this short and sweet for you.

Following the record breaking sale of Neymar Jr. to PSG in 2017 of €222 million, Barcelona went on a tirade of spending that shook the world of football finances to its very core, and we're bound to see the repercussions for years as clubs continue to one-up each other.

€160 million on Philippe Coutinho. €148 million on Ousmane Dembélé. €120 million on Antoine Griezmann.

Just to rub salt in the wounds of Barca's ridiculous spending, none of these transfers ended up working out, as each player left the club disgraced, but were all able to dust themselves off and have successful careers elsewhere (just the one Balon D'or for Dembélé).

The real kicker was in 2021, when Spanish paper El Mundo leaked the terms of Lionel Messi's contract that he had signed in 2017.

His four year deal cost the club approximately €555 million.

Admittedly, the Argentinian brought in a colossal amount in revenue for the club, but such spending on one player is reckless to say the least and, as you can imagine, when the rest of the squad found out what he was on, they demanded a piece of the action.

Messi's contract wasn't just expensive in itself, but created ridiculous wage expectations among other players, and it quickly became wildly unsustainable.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, football clubs made huge losses, and Barcelona were no different, recording an operating loss in that season of, and it still shocks me to even write this, €481 million.

Alongside this happening, Barcelona was spending more on player salaries than their entire income, representing 103% of all money coming into the club.

As you'd expect, dire straits ensued, and the club scrambled to cut wages, allow big players to leave, famously seeing Messi walk out the door, and sell assets.

The infamous 'lever' pulling saw the club selling any assets it could to be able to afford to register players in line with La Liga's strict rules, from TV rights to internal studios, but it meant that they remained competitive enough on the pitch to continue bringing in good revenue.

With a newfound lack of foundation at the club in chase of necessary short-term funds, though, Barcelona were granted a significantly lower Squad Cost Limit.

LaLiga slashed Barcelona's spending limit for the new season from €649m to €270m on Thursday, in part due to the assets sold off by the club last summer to improve their short-term finances 😮

Real Madrid have the highest spending limit in the league this season 👀 pic.twitter.com/tWqKcg0BAI

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 14, 2023

Had Barcelona been a smaller club with less of a financial foundation to fall back on and flog, they wouldn't exist today, and certainly wouldn't be as successful as they've managed to become again.

All Doom and Gloom?

You'd be excused to think, with all that in mind, that Spanish football was in crisis mode, and that clubs were falling out of the public eye and into obscurity beyond the country's borders, with no real discernable talent on the pitch.

That's far from the truth. Spanish football is well and truly punching above its weight.

As we look at the state of affairs in Europe, La Liga clubs have reached finals 15 times in UEFA competitions in the last decade, to which the Premier League can respond with just 13 of their own.

The likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Sevilla and now even Real Betis are feared across the continent for their quality and tenacity, the latter due to their progress in the Conference League.

Even just glancing at individual players, we can see some of the world's greatest talents playing their trade in Spain, namely Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior to name just a few of the plethora that there are.

La Liga is the best in terms of the quality of football played. It’s above any other league in the world but in terms of rules, regulations & mainly the officiating is absolutely horrendous. Probably the worst in the top 5 leagues. This will not change as long as Tebas is here.

— HAMZA & BARÇA (@Hamza8Barca) January 28, 2023

It's become clear that large La Liga clubs have found the way to adhere to Javier Tebas and his strict financial rulings is to invest in youth, and it's proven very effective for them.

Barcelona's La Masia academy was already world renowned, but even when the club was on its knees, they've brought through Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Gavi and plenty more, while Athletic Club can boast the development of Euro Final goalscorer and tremendous talent Nico Williams.

La Liga seems to have adjusted it's culture not to align with much of the rest of Europe, but to instead tread in own path through steady and consistent youth development, ensuring they remain competitive at the highest level without having to spend.

Perhaps there's a lesson here for the English game, in that irrepressible and egomaniacal spending may not be the most effective way forward, especially in maintaining the financial safety of the lower divisions.

Many still have complaints, though, that restricting spending favours the bigger clubs, as it diminishes opportunities for teams lower down the pecking order from catching up both on and off the pitch.

La liga falling way behind the premier league..Corruption, bad kickoff time, poor telecast quality and lack of audience except Madrid Barca Fans..i feel this gap is only going to get bigger

— ! (@breathMessi21) December 3, 2023

The system certainly has its critics, and in comparison to England especially, the lack of ability to spend money could see infrastructure in Spanish football start to suffer, but for the time being, those at the very top are still competing at the highest level, and that seems to be all that Tebas is concerned about.