As president of the Premier League union, which brings together a majority of Ligue 1 residents, Bernard Caïazzo complained about the charges paid by French clubs, which are far higher than those for training abroad.
Rather discreet in the news of AS Saint-Etienne, Bernard Caïazzo came out of silence for the Premier League. The president of the union, which brings together most of the Ligue 1 teams, has indeed pushed a rant in the columns of So Foot to complain about the huge charges weighing on French clubs. While residents of foreign championships are taxed much less.
” Everywhere, within the Big Five, losses amount to at least one billion euros, with the Covid-19 pandemic, France like the others, recalled the ASSE co-president. However, despite these equivalent figures, we are not in the same boat in terms of revenue and expenses. Overall, all Ligue 1 clubs paid 955 million euros in taxes, over the entire 2019-2020 season. “
Comparisons that hurt
” Most of these charges relate to employee and employer contributions, almost 64% of the total, or 604 million euros paid, said the leader, before addressing the case of foreign clubs. By comparison, say yourself that Angers pay 13 times more employer contributions than European champions Bayern Munich. The LOSC pays more employer contributions than all the Bundesliga and Liga clubs combined, i.e. 38 clubs. And it’s been like this forever, Covid or not Covid, crisis or no crisis. “
His words sound like criticism of the government, but Bernard Caïazzo puts things straight. ” This is not a charge against state action or against the financing of solidarity, it is a simple observation, reinforced by a catastrophic and worrying context for the professional football ecosystem, clarified the Stéphanois. It is not normal to pay so much, to pay much more than our European neighbors in a globalized market, even more in times of economic crisis. “
French football’s contribution
” So, we are told that it is normal that football pays so much, that the wages paid are too high and that the money is spent anyhow. But these same people are very happy to be able to count on this billion taken from clubs and football teams. We are making a significant contribution to the collective effort. As such, it is, in return, normal to ask for state intervention for the survival of professional football in the Covid year. “, Defended Bernard Caïazzo, convinced that the government has every interest in helping French football in this crisis.