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"Brussels investigates Spanish football," headlines El País, revealing that European Commission competition watchdogs are investigating three Valencia football teams – Valencia, Hércules and Elche – who listed the regional government, controlled by the centre-right Popular Party, as a guarantor against some €118m in bank loans. The clubs proved unable to pay their debts to Bankia, Banco de Valencia and CAM, which were later nationalised, meaning the government in Valencia – one of Spain’s most indebted regions – was forced to repay the loans.
If European Commission declares the financial aid irregular and in violation of competition law, the clubs will have to pay back the money, "which could leave them bankrupt," writes El País, adding that debts of all the country’s football clubs total €3.6bn –
For years there has been a wide variety of [public] financial supports that allowed the development of what Brussels has called "the Spanish football bubble”. [...] The respect for Spanish football is at its peak, but economically there are serious doubts about the future of many clubs [and] this apparent paradox between the clubs’ tremendous success and their disastrous economic situation has sparked suspicion in Europe."
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
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