Wow, interesting.
Quote:
Real Madrid, Barcelona and five other La Liga clubs were ordered Monday by the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, to repay money to the Spanish government over various instances of the state providing aid to them.
European champions Real Madrid, Spanish league champions Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna were ordered to repay state tax credits given to them by Spain that date back 20 years.
The initial sum total was estimated to be €68.8 million euros, according to Spanish media reports.
Real Madrid were also told to repay regarding the settlement on a transfer of land from the City of Madrid to the club that was agreed upon in 1998 and was found to be overvalued by €18.4m. Finally, three other clubs -- Valencia, Hercules and Elche -- were deemed to have been given unfair loan bailouts from Spain.
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http://www.espnfc.us/spanish-primera...epay-state-aid
I'm not entirely sure where I stand on this. On the one hand screw them and receiving 'State Aid?' Thats insane. So fair enough.
But backdating all of it and changing the rules on legislation thats 20 years old? That seems like changing the rules of the game after the fact.
Despite that though they can damned well afford it and Spain is teetering on the brink of becoming Europe's next Greece. They do literally need every Euro they can beg, borrow or steal.