The Association of Women's Soccer Clubs (ACFF) has issued a very extensive official statement in which it strongly charges against the Federation about television rights and financial contributions.
This is the full statement:
“In view of the statement published by the Royal Spanish Football Federation yesterday in which they present themselves as the great champions, not only national, but world, of women's sport, This Association cannot miss the surprising statements that are made, in such a way that public opinion can know the true reality.
In the first place, this Association and its Clubs confirm what they already stated last week: the only solution is through the imminent constitution of the Professional League that allows television rights to be jointly marketed in a regulated environment with peaceful exploitation and with full respect for the individual rights of the Clubs, led by the organizing entity, the Professional Women's Soccer League. Therefore, these Clubs will not accept any type of occurrence that involves giving away the greatest asset of the Clubs and that goes back to models from a decade ago. The Clubs and footballers of the Women's First Division, a professional competition since June 15, deserve to be treated as what they are: professionals.
Secondly, and in relation to the huge figure that the RFEF apparently allocates to women's football, it should be started by remembering that it is not the first time (nor will it be the last) that those responsible for the RFEF make a “peculiar” use of data and figures. As an example, on June 21, 2019, when its leaders had no qualms about stating publicly that the RFEF was going to allocate “20 million euros directly” to women's football. The reality, however, was far from this interested owner: the real amount that the RFEF allocated was not more than 900 thousand euros.
It is therefore again necessary to explain the information about the RFEF's contributions with a little more rigor and transparency. and, above all, the origin of the funds that have an impact on women's football competitions.
The funds that during the last seasons have been available to some of the Clubs (not all) of the First and Second Division of Women's Soccer are:
IBERDROLA (between 1.3 and 2 million)
- Universo Mujer II Program. (1.3 million euros) and offer advertising media for Clubs (40 thousand euros maximum per Club)
LALIGA AND MEN'S PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL CLUBS (1 million)
- Aid Social Security Quotas First Division footballers (1 million euros 2019/20 season)
RFEF (750 thousand euros)
- Aid for travel between the peninsula and the Canary Islands. 654 thousand euros for this season, aid from which, however, not all Clubs can benefit.
- Aids for sports equipment (official balls). 40 balls per team are provided for the entire season, provided by ADIDAS.
- COVID test aid. 25 tests per Club every 15 days until December. Estimated cost 96 thousand euros.
In conclusion, The RFEF allocates around 750 thousand euros to the promotion of the First and Second Women's Division (aid that has been given for decades), with the rest of the contributions from Iberdrola or LaLiga and their Clubs. Both this Association and its Clubs are unaware of both the existence and the destination of the rest of the amounts stated up to the supposed 9 million euros, although we can imagine that the RFEF has considered the contributions made by the aforementioned entities as its own.
In relation to the long and shameful paragraphs in which he compares data in an interested way with the rest of the Sports Federations of Spain, It is worth noting the true reality: that the 9 million euros that it supposedly allocates is equivalent to 2.5% of the RFEF's budget, which amounts to 359 million euros.
In what we do agree with the leaders of the RFEF is the importance of contextualizing and valuing certain issues, and for this reason we understand that it is surely interesting to remember that LaLiga, despite not being the organizer of the competitions of women's football, contributes each season to the RFEF the not inconsiderable figure of 2.5 million euros for women's football, which is added to the million euros for the payment of the SS fees of the footballers mentioned above. Therefore, LaLiga and its Clubs contribute a total of 3.5 million directly.
Similarly, mention should be made of the sponsorship contract that the RFEF maintains with Iberdrola (other than Universo Mujer) and of which the Clubs participating in Primera and Reto do not receive any amount, for example, of the amounts that may correspond to the naming of the competition. The Match Clubs do not have any competition sponsors either, although here is a simple explanation: in 4 years, the current leaders of the RFEF have not found a single sponsor for women's football competitions. It is something that should also be valued, as stated by the RFEF.
What cannot be ignored, and in this we can give the RFEF full merit, is the increase in some of the expenses to which they subject the Clubs, such as, for example, the surprising amount of arbitration fees, which have been increased by more than 100% in the last two seasons (from € 1,400 on 19/20 to € 3,300 on 22/21). Unfortunately, it appears that this increase has not had the same effect on the remuneration received by the arbitrators.
Third and last, in relation to the judicial and administrative procedures that this Association and its Clubs have been forced to present in the face of the continuous attacks by the RFEF, This Association will continue to defend the interests of its Clubs in whatever way it deems appropriate. It cannot be forgotten that we are talking about some leaders who have tried to boycott both the joint sale of TV rights and the signing of the Collective Agreement or even oppose the professionalization of the Women's First Division, submitting an unfavorable report to the CSD in this regard.
And, in relation to the audiovisual conflict that has resulted in the current situation, it is worth remembering the active and decisive participation that the RFEF had, once again, in this conflict: since the creation of new competition models whose objective was the forced transfer of the audiovisual rights to participate (attempt that could not be consummated thanks, precisely, to the fact that the ACFF and its Clubs went to court), through the Elite Program (through which the RFEF, as organizer, has helped some Clubs, and not to all, contributing to generate intolerable imbalances among the participants) or, of course, the agreements reached by the RFEF with RTVE and Footters, which allowed meetings to be broadcast without the consent and against the will of the participants. Clubs of this Association or its awardee, thus resulting in an audiovisual conflict that has affected all of women's football.
Thus, Without a regulated environment that protects women's football from this type of action, the peaceful exploitation of the most important asset of any competition will not be possible. and on whose success its growth depends. “