Explaining why LaLiga is in decline

LaLiga is in serious decline and all you have to do is tune in to a game to see why. The quality of play is subpar, the stadiums are partially empty, and many teams are in financial turmoil. Worst of all, the league is struggling on the continental level as we saw in this season’s Champions League where three of the four LaLiga sides failed to even get out of the group stage.

• Sevilla: Didn’t even compete in their group.
• Atletico Madrid: Finished last in a group that included Porto, Bayer Leverkusen, and Club Brugge.
• Barcelona: Knocked out for the second consecutive season in the group stage.

If that wasn’t bad enough, LaLiga continues to get weaker every season as its best players and managers leave to sign for the lucrative Premier League; many of which are not even signing for top EPL sides.

• Real Sociedad, who are in the Europa League, sold Alexander Isak for €70 million to a Newcastle side that’s not in any continental competitions.

• Aston Villa have been fighting relegation these past couple of seasons, yet signed:

  • Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona (Champions League side).
  • Diego Carlos from Sevilla (Champions League side)
  • Unai Emery from Villarreal (Europa League winners in 2021 and Champions League semifinalist last season).

• Nottingham Forest, who are recently promoted and had not been in the Premier League since 1999, signed Renan Lodi from Atletico Madrid, who was crucial in helping the Colchoneros win LaLiga in 2021.     

It’s a concerning period for the league, but why has LaLiga declined so much? Some might argue it’s only cyclical and that all top leagues have their moments, but there’s much more to it than that. Here are the reasons why LaLiga is in serious decline:

• LaLiga’s President

The initial reason for LaLiga’s decline is that it doesn’t have proper management at the top and that shouldn’t come as a shock when Javier Tebas is the President. So much of what Tebas has done has had a negative impact on LaLiga from poor revenue distribution to constant arguments with different clubs. But what have been the main problems caused by Tebas that are holding LaLiga clubs back and hurting the league brand as a whole.

• • Constant battles with Real Madrid and Barcelona: Tebas’ war against Real Madrid and Barcelona is well known and is doing nothing to help the situation with the league. While he might have his reasons to be frustrated with both clubs, LaLiga can’t grow without the LaLiga President getting along with the league’s most iconic clubs.
    • First of all, it is not exactly the best image if LaLiga’s President is constantly fighting with the league’s most important teams.
    • Secondly, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the country’s most recognizable clubs and are important when selling LaLiga around the planet. 
    • Thirdly, and probably most important, both Real Madrid and Barcelona are the most interested in assuring that there is a competitive and entertaining league. Because when that happens, it brings in more revenue and allows them to better compete with the continent’s top sides on the pitch, as well as off it.
  • Self-Imposed Spending Limit: Wanting to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair regulations, Tebas decided to implement a spending limit to avoid financial issues in the league, but that has done more to hurt LaLiga than benefit it. Not only has it put a strain on spending, but it’s also forcing teams to sell their best players to comply with the regulations, even if they don’t want to sell. Worst of all, it affects their negotiating because how are they supposed to get the best price when teams from other leagues know that they have to sell players solely to comply with spending regulations? Something other leagues don’t have. To make matters worse, Tebas kept imposing these spending limits during the pandemic, even after UEFA had suspended their Financial Fair regulations to help teams manage their financial situation during those troubling times. All this has done is allow LaLiga to lose their best players and it will continue to happen unless these regulations are changed.      
  • Marketing Plan:
    LaLiga’s marketing strategy has been pathetic and has done nothing to generate interest around the world. Then again, how are they supposed to generate global interest when they’ve been distancing local fans from their teams with high ticket prices and ridiculous start times, which see stadiums partially empty. Tebas seems to have a notion they can’t sell LaLiga without having the best players, but that’s inaccurate. They need the best players not to sell it, but to push the image of LaLiga and get fans to support its clubs. Otherwise, there will be a decline in fan support when those elite players leave because many of them were more interested in the players than the clubs. However, the worst thing Tebas has failed to do is promote the image of LaLiga’s teams as a whole. Apart from Real Madrid, Barcelona, and probably Atlético, it almost seems as if nobody else exists when they’re other teams with incredible history. LaLiga is not only the Clasico and the Madrid/Barcelona derbies. They’re plenty of other exciting rivalries that the league can also showcase, such as Sevilla-Betis or Athletic Bilbao-Real Sociedad, but they don’t seem to care about the other LaLiga teams. And for those that say it’s too hard to generate interest in teams that don’t have much success, the Premier League also had to deal with that same issue. Yet interest in teams that have not won a trophy in a while, such as Tottenham, Leeds, and even Southampton, has grown significantly over the years and will continue to only increase. It’s not about success, it’s about having a proper marketing strategy.

• Poor Club Management/Investments

While Tebas is mostly responsible, another reason that’s hurting LaLiga is the poor management and lack of investment (and almost interest) in its teams. Excluding Real Madrid, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, and a few others, it almost seems that those investing in buying a team are only doing so for the sake of saying they own a LaLiga club. While there have been some teams that enjoyed initial success, many of them have suffered since due to the lack of investment and interest from their owners. There’s been little investment from domestic businessmen and foreign owners (while other leagues have benefitted from them) have caused more problems for LaLiga as a whole.    

• FC Barcelona: While it’s owned by its member, the club’s in well-known financial turmoil because of its notorious and incompetent management.
• Atlético Madrid: While the ‘Colchoneros’ enjoyed incredible success under Diego Simeone, the guidance of Gil Marin and Enrique Cerezo in the director’s box has stagnated the team’s upward process. Additionally, the involvement of the new investors has done little to benefit the club. 
• RCD Espanyol: One of LaLiga’s most historic and iconic clubs, the Parakeets are known for being a team that’s impossible for anybody to hate (except for Barcelona fans). However, the club has been in limbo and almost irrelevant since Chinese owners took over the side. Along with not having won a title since 2006, they haven’t beaten their arch-rivals Barcelona since 2009 and there hasn’t been much interest from the ownership group to grow the club on the field, as well as off it. 
• Valencia CF: Owned by Singaporean business magnate Peter Lim, the club seemed to be on an upward trajectory after winning the 2019 Copa del Rey under the guidance of coach Marcelino García Toral and Mateu Alemany as Sporting Director. Despite that positivity, it all went up in smokes months later when Marcelino was inexplicably sacked and Mateu Alemany left his role. Since then, the club has pretty much become Jorge Mendes CF since a lot of his clients ‘interestingly’ play for the team. Similar to Wolverhampton, with the difference being that Wolves at least get many of his high-level international players, whereas ‘Los Che’ seem to get the scraps that other teams don’t want.                                         

Sadly, the worst thing of all is how this has negatively affected some of LaLiga most historical clubs, such as Malaga, Racing Santander, and Zaragoza. 

• Málaga: Were purchased by a Qatari businessman in 2010. Although they reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League in 2013, the club tighten the reigns on spending and their performances suffered; eventually being relegated in 2018 and haven’t returned since.
• Racing Santander: Having reached the UEFA Cup in 2008, the club was then purchased in 2011 by Indian businessman, Ahsan Ali Syed. His supposed intentions were to clear the club’s debts and build a team to challenge for silverware. However, that euphoria only lasted a few weeks after Ali Syed was accused of fraud and investigated by Interpol. This led to him fleeing and leaving the club abandoned. These issues affected their on-field performances and Racing suffered consecutive relegations in 2012 and 2013, dropping to the league’s third division (Primera RFEF). Since then, the club has battled between Second Division and Primera RFEF, and seem still a long way from returning to the league’s top division.
• Zaragoza: An example of domestic ownership going bad. A legendary club who are well known (amongst other things) for beating Arsenal in the 1995 Cup Winners’ Cup with that incredible game-winning goal by Nayim. As well as having the deepest goal nets of any team in the game. Unfortunately, the team’s decline initiated in 2006 when businessman, Agapito Iglesias, was put in charge. During his reign, the team was relegated to the Second Division in 2008 (with instant promotion in 2009) and again in 2013. The club’s image took a massive hit with numerous controversial moments. This included an alleged match-fixing scandal over a 2011 game between Levante and Zaragoza. The matter went to court and, although the players from both teams were absolved, Agapito Iglesias was sent to prison; though that was for false documentation. Even though the club seems to be in a more stable situation with new ownership, they’ve been out of La Liga since the 2012/2013 season.                       

• Coaching

Along with Tebas and poor club management, another reason for this decline has to do with the fact that LaLiga has very few elite or even high-level coaches. Unfortunately, this is because LaLiga has never been known for being a league that values the importance of coaching. Excluding Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Villarreal, and a couple of others, LaLiga sides aren’t generally patient with their managers. While some teams can be impatient, this also has to do with the excess media coverage and pressure from the fans that makes it extremely difficult even for the directors who are sometimes forced into sacking their managers to only please the fans. That’s why Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico, and many others tend to hire former club players turned coaches because they’ll be well received by the fans. Something that is unfortunate because not only does it hold back the progression of coaches with immense potential, but also hurts LaLiga’s image when trying to bring in elite managers.

While the Premier League has many world-class players, another important reason why it’s the best league is because it has some of the best managers in the game; not to mention the English culture makes it easier for them to implement their methods. The Bundesliga, while is dominated by Bayern Munich, has almost all German coaches and the quality of play in the league is exceptional. This is because the German coaching school is one of the toughest programs on the continent. Something that’s reaping its rewards as some of the best coaches in the current game are German. In fact, since 2018, at least one German coach has managed in the Champions League Final.

• 2018: Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool)
• 2019: Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool)
• 2020: Hansi Flick (Bayern Munich) & Thomas Tuchel (PSG) 
• 2021: Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea)  
• 2022: Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool)

Meanwhile, in LaLiga: 

• There have been constant issues with the Spanish coaching federation as former elite players seem to get their badges quicker than others.
• Celta Vigo, until hiring Luis Campos as a consultant, would sign either former club players (Eduardo Berizzo or Eduardo Coudet) or make random coaching selections (Antonio Mohamed, Miguel Cardoso, Juan Carlos Unzué, etc)          
• Barcelona, who are in financial turmoil, hired a former club player whose only managerial experience was coaching in the Qatari league instead of turning to a more proven manager. 
• Valencia CF has seen many of Jorge Mendes’ coaching clients manage the team, such as Nuno Espírito Santo and Gennaro Gattuso. In fact, they hired Gattuso (a legendary player) despite having done nothing of significance in Serie A. He replaced José Bordalás, who achieved wonders at Getafe and lead ‘Los Che’ to the 2022 Copa del Rey final in his only season with the team.                                                 

With all this, it shouldn’t come as a shock that no elite-level coaches want to be in LaLiga when clubs and even fans don’t value their importance.