In the previous winter transfer window, English clubs spent £800 million (€932.3 million), while in the current one, the United Kingdom’s main football league barely invested £31 million (€36.1 million) in signings. . However, this time, more than 80% of the total investment so far is from Tottenham with the purchase of Radu Dragusín, from Genoa for £25.7 million (€30 million).
In the last winter market, together, the twenty Premier League clubs spent 800 million. 37.5% of this investment came from Chelsea, which paid 300 million to incorporate players such as Mykhailo Mudryck (88 million), Enzo Fernández (108 million), Benoit Budiashile (35 million) and Noni Madueke (29 million). In that window Southampton followed with 63 million; Arsenal with sixty million and Bournemouth with 56 million.
The winter transfer period does not close until January 31, but the ten-point sanction against Everton last November and the recent accusations by the Premier League against the Toffees and Nottingham Forest for exceeding the loss limit established by the competition of £105 million (€122.4 million) over three years, is providing a foundation for English football institutions.
All this, in a delicate situation for Chelsea who is being investigated by the league for fraudulent signings during the Romand Abramovich era and also for the current defending champion the Manchester City – a club that president Javier Milei gave as an example – is accused of 115 financial irregularities.
For its part, Saudi Arabia reduced the multimillion-dollar outlay of previous seasons and the relaxed situation at the bottom of the English table, with Shefield United and Burnley practically relegated to the Championship, contribute to the situation of this slowed and austere market.
Currently, 20 Premier League clubs belong to private capital, the majority belonging to the United States, although there is also the influence of capital from businessmen, sheikhs and magnates from the Arab world, from Iran, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Greece and even from China.
This opening of English football to SA occurred after “the Hillsborough tragedy” in 1989, when in an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, 96 Manchester United fans died, most of them crushed against the wire fences.
The overselling of tickets in an old stadium and poor police control were the causes of the tragedy, which made the conservative Margaret Thatcher (then British Prime Minister) take action on the matter by granting loans to the clubs to remodel their stadiums. and to refinance his debts, he opened football to TV and authorized the increase in ticket prices.
Especially, these last two measures made the hooligans (low-income people who got drunk and caused incidents on the fields) stop coming to watch the games.
However, bringing the English model to Argentine football does not represent a solution. In fact, many clubs remodeled their stadiums, tickets are already prohibitive (from this championship it will cost between a minimum of $8,000 and a maximum of $9,900) and yet the bravas will continue to enter the stadiums on the red carpet, while the member You will have to submit to endless police searches.
The difference is that in England they wanted to combat the hooligans, while in Argentina, the bravas are the owners of the football business and will continue to be, until there is an ironclad and joint will between the State, the leaders of the Argentine football and the Police to combat them.
Nor is it a guarantee to improve Argentine football to copy the English model of Public Limited Companies, since success cannot be guaranteed as in the case of Manchester City.
In Argentina, all the experiences were negative: Deportivo Mandiyú, Argentinos Juniors (which moved to Mendoza in 1994), Racing, which returned to the hands of the partners…
At the moment, Córdoba Workshops It is one of the clubs that is practically managed like a company and its president Andres Fassi He is the most optimistic about the SAD, although he assured that he will respect the partners’ decision.
Andrés Fassi is called “The Professor” in Mexico, where he made his professional career from physical trainer to vice president of the powerful Pachuca Group.
Since he assumed the presidency (November 2014), he led Talleres from competing in the Federal A Tournament – a third category championship – to being among the best teams in Argentina.
Precisely, this model of Pachuca, a modest institution converted into a large company, is the one that the president of Talleres wants to impose in Argentina. Fassi is convinced of converting the clubs into Public Limited Companies, a project with which he agrees with the former president of the Nation and of Boca, Mauricio Macri, and with the current Argentine president, Javier Milei.
“In Argentina we continue with the demagoguery of non-profit clubs, but how many of us are the ones who say how much we sell a player for. I don’t live off of Talleres, I have the luxury of putting in the resources that no one put in and the results are seen after these years,” stated the owner “tallarín” at the time.
However, in almost 10 years of its management as a company, the “T” flirted among the best and was on the verge of celebrating three titles (it reached the finals of the Argentine Cup in 2021 and 2022 and lost them to Boca and Patronato, respectively. , was runner-up in Argentine soccer in 2023, which River won and qualified for the quarterfinals in Libertadores 2022), but never became champion. In fact, the only international cup it won was Conmebol, in 1999, when it was 100% a non-profit club.
Although it does not only occur in Argentina – also in Ecuador and Paraguay – non-profit civil associations are a case that goes against the vast majority of clubs in the rest of America and the world, which increasingly receive more private capital. .
The historical roots and current validity of the Argentine world champion team in Qatar, plus the inferiors of the clubs that continue to produce stars, mean that from the AFA command, headed by Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia to the last of the presidents of First Division clubs (except Talleres) refuse to open the doors of entry to the SAD.
Argentine football is still valid at the global and continental level, despite the fact that the last five editions of the Copa Libertadores were won by Brazilian teams (Flamengo -2019 and 2022-; Palmeiras -2020 and 2021- and Fluminense -2023-).
In Brazil There are more and more teams converted into SAD, although they are not the main ones. Of the 20 clubs that compete in the Brasileirao, 6 have private capital: Botafogo, Cuiabá, Vasco da Gama, Bahía, Cruzeiro and Coritiba.
Another clear example that the SAD does not guarantee sporting and financial success occurs in Spanish football, where of the last 9 LaLiga championships, Real Madrid and Barcelona won 8, the two largest teams on the Iberian Peninsula that oppose the SAD. The other was kept by Atletico de Madrid in the 2020-2021 season, transformed into a public limited company on June 30, 1992.
In Uruguay, Of the 16 First Division clubs, six respond to an SA: Boston River, Deportivo Maldonado, La Luz, Racing, City Torque and Plaza Colonia, the only one from Uruguayan capitals.
However, the last 10 championships were won by clubs that are owned by the members, with Nacional and Peñarol having hegemony, while the other two were won by Liverpool and Plaza Colonia.
In Peru, For the 2024 First Division season, four teams of the 18 participants are SAD, Sporting Cristal, Unión Comercio, César Vallejo and Los Chankas FC.
Also in Ecuador, professional clubs remain non-profit civil societies. Although an agreement was published in 2021 so that the teams that want to can become companies, there have not yet been any finalized transfers. In Paraguay, meanwhile, the law prohibits it.
The other side is Chili, which clearly represents the SAD model. Of the 16 teams that participate in Primera, only Cobresal and Curicó Unidos are non-profit civil associations or corporations, as they are called on the other side of the mountain range. Of the other 14 participants, 12 are Professional Sports Joint Stock Companies and two, Blanco y Negro –in Colo Colo- and Azul Azul –in the University of Chile- are managed under the logic of a conversion. Only “el Cacique” is in a position to reverse his current administration model: in 2035 the thirty years of his concession contract will end. Instead, the U will have to wait until 2052.
A similar case is that of Colombia. Of the 20 First Division clubs, only two are clubs: Deportivo Cali and Deportivo Pasto. The rest – among them the largest in the country, such as Atlético Nacional, Millonarios or América de Cali – have owners.
The SAD They do not guarantee any type of success. What can be a success in English football, a copy of the model in Argentina can fail – because it is a different culture, because it has a different idiosyncrasy – as it has already failed in some institutions that tried.
Our football, with errors, irregularities and sloppiness, continues to be exciting until the last date, and competitive at the South American and world level.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
