This afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., all the clubs of the First RFEF are summoned. In its first seven months of existence, the competition that was born with the aim of bringing non-professional football closer to professional football is facing its first crisis. On the table there are three points to be discussed: the Footters-Fuchs Sports conflict over television rights, the creation of an association of clubs within the category and what the RFEF qualifies as a breach of the agreements and, finally , review of the aid policy.
Luis Rubiales has urgently summoned the clubs of the First RFEF in a turbulent week. There has been a divorce between the operators Footters (OTT in charge of broadcasting the matches) and Fuchs Sports (owner of the audiovisual rights for this season and the next two). According to what has been leaked and some clubs claim, the problem lies in non-payments by Footters to Fuchs Sports, which ended up announcing yesterday that they were breaking off relations. “Footters will stop broadcasting the matches,” announced the owner of the rights, a note that came out hours after the Spanish company’s statement, which labeled the decision “unjustified cancellation”, “unilateral decision” and announcing that they would take ” the pertinent legal measures”. This conflict is highly relevant for the clubs, since audiovisual rights are their main source of income. Although, a priori, Fuchs Sports announced yesterday a solution to the blackout that the competition experienced with the two postponed matches on Tuesday: “All matches will be broadcast on our platform fuchs-sports.com.”
Another point to be discussed will be what the Federation describes as “non-compliance by 5 clubs with the commitments made unanimously at the meeting held on August 17, 2021”. And they add: “Effects on the competition model in the coming seasons.” Everything indicates that this aspect is related to a fact that was made official last Tuesday in the BOE, the creation of an association of clubs in the category. Dux Inter, Sanse, Rayo Majadahonda, Linense and Linares belong to it. Sources from these clubs defend that it is a totally legal project and that it does not harm the RFEF at all. The objective is to pursue the common good of the clubs and join forces to maximize the income of the clubs in a competition where many teams are experiencing financial hardship. Recently, Extremadura has been expelled from the First RFEF due to a double failure to appear due to non-payment to its players. “There may be more situations like the one in Extremadura,” they warn AS. In addition, these same sources assure that the Footters-Fuchs Sports conflict is also affecting the clubs since not all the promised money would be arriving. Which could lead to the announcement of new aid by the RFEF with the aim of calming the spirits of the clubs and cleaning up their accounts.