After becoming a permanent visitor in the advanced roles of the UEFA Champions League, Atletico Madrid will suffer a severe blow to its budget, if the remainder of the Spanish league season is canceled due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus.
A controversial decision by the Spanish Federation last Wednesday, to give the top four in the current La Liga arrangement cards to participate in the Champions League next season if the rest of the season's competitions are canceled, so Atletico Madrid and Getafe were more affected and to a lesser degree Valencia.
While it was logical that the two giants Barcelona (58 points) and Real Madrid (56) book their cards as usual towards the first continental competition, the conflict was on fire for the third and fourth places that qualified for the Champions League between Seville (47), Real Sociedad (46), Getafe (46). 46) Atletico Madrid (56), 11 stages before the end of the league.
A move that surprised the League, even before it was decided to cancel the season, considering that the Spanish Federation does not have the powers to make such a decision without the approval of the organizer of the Spanish professional championship. Whereas, the president of the association, Javier Tipas, previously warned that clubs could lose up to one billion euros (1.08 billion US dollars) if the season was not completed.
According to Al-Ittihad, the fifth and sixth places, in addition to one of the finalists of the King's Cup competition, will participate in the European League.
The Spanish Federation also said in a statement after a meeting of its delegated committee in charge of managing professional championships, "We allow the exceptional extension of the maximum dates to end the current season and start the next season, until after June 30."
Atletico paid the price for its slow start in the season and its many draws (12), so the Argentine coach Diego Simeone's team fell to sixth place, after it was the closest competitor of the giant duo Barcelona and Real Madrid in recent years, as his exit from the list of the top three in the league arrangement returns to the 2012 season.
The capital team won the European League title in 2010, 2012 and 2018, reached the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016 when it lost to arch-rivals Real, and in the current version, defending champions Liverpool overthrew the English price of the final before the suspension of competitions.
Atletico Madrid's participation in the Champions League represents 15% of its budget, which exceeds 500 million euros, according to the Spanish newspaper "AS". So far this season, he has earned 77.2 million euros so far, and his share may exceed 100 million if he continues the path towards the title with the addition of his share of the TV transmission.
On the other hand, those numbers will collapse in case they are thrown into the European League «Europa League». When he won her title for the last time in 2018, his share amounted to 16.1 million euros, a number that is very far from the alluring Champions League prizes.
If he is forced to compete in the equivalent continental championship, Colchoneros will need to sell one of his stars to balance his numbers.