The Spanish Football Federation president, Luis Rubiales, announced today, Wednesday, that the federation will release 500 million euros to help the clubs affected by the stoppage of matches currently in light of the outbreak of the Corona virus.
"As part of the measures taken to help mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic," Rubiales said at a press conference, "We have worked to provide 500 million euros in financing for first and second division clubs." Clubs that need between 15 and 20 million euros now will be able to get them and pay them within five or six years. ”
"We are reaching out to professional football. We had discussions with the financial entities. If the La Liga (supervisor of professional football in Spain) wants it, we will look for solutions. This is the time to join forces. ”
He warned that "if the season does not end before June 30, which is more than likely now, some clubs will not receive all of their revenues from the television broadcast rights that were reserved for them."
In addition to this assistance to first and second division clubs, the federation announced a series of measures devoted to amateur or semi-professional clubs.
The president of the Spanish Federation stated that the clubs for the third and fourth levels of football, and the futsal clubs in the first and second classes for men and women, "will be eligible for a loan of four million euros as a maximum, according to the value of the wages they entail."
The loan will be without interest, to be repaid within two years.
The spread of the epidemic "Covid-19" led to the suspension of football matches in Spain until further notice in various levels, which prompted some small clubs to take measures to reduce the likely financial losses, including the adoption of the principle of partial unemployment to reduce the salaries of players in the layoff.
While it seems very difficult in light of the current health situation to set a date for the resumption of matches, Rubiales reiterated that the federation hopes that "the season will end", but "he has not set a date yet for his resumption at this time."
He explained that the same applies to the final match of the King's Cup competition, which was originally scheduled on April 18 in Seville between the Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao teams before they were postponed, "to ensure that they are held in the presence of the fans" based on the desire of the two clubs, according to a previous statement by the federation.
On Wednesday, Spain became the second country most affected by the epidemic "Covid-19" in terms of deaths after Italy, with the authorities announced this morning to record a total number of 3434 deaths.
Rubiales said that the general hotel in Las Rozas of the Federation, which is dedicated to the establishment of the national team during the period of international matches, will be "available to the competent authorities to do what they deem appropriate."