What is the 1/4 rule?

Since last summer, when Leo Messi He had days left at Barça but nobody knew, that the concept ‘rule of 1/4’ accompanies any text related to the economy of the Barça club. The concept already existed before, but it was from that moment on that it became more popular. The president of LaLiga himself, Javier Thebes, made the term famous by constantly using it in his interventions when asked if a club like Barça with the salary limit exceeded could sign. His solution was the ‘1/4 rule’. And now it is once again the only way for Barça to sign in the summer once it has become known that it is the only club in LaLiga with a negative salary limit (-144,353 million). But what is 1/4? What does it consist of? A quick summary is as follows: for every 4 euros saved, 1 can be spent. This is a LaLiga measure designed precisely to avoid the economic blockade of clubs with more expenses than income.

This is an assumption included in article 100 of the Rules for the Preparation of LaLiga budgets applicable to those clubs that start the season on July 1 with the salary limit exceeded and are forced to have to release salary mass. This is the case of FC Barcelona.

The article 100 It allows clubs that start the new season with the salary limit exceeded to register new players as long as it does not exceed 25 per cent of the decrease in squad costs. A club in excess can spend at most 25% of the cost it previously reduced. To give an example with numbers, for every 10 million reduced (sale of a player, salary reduction…), 2.5 can be spent.

Until now there was also the possibility of taking advantage of the ‘1/2 rule’, that is, for every two euros of savings, one can be spent. But this rule will only be in force until July 1, 2022. The 1/2 could only be used if the benefit or savings is for a player whose token represents 5% of the budget for the cost of the sports squad. In that case, for every 10 million reduced, 5 could be spent. At Barça, only Coutinho and Dembele He could get close to that percentage, but the first is on loan to Aston Villa (and should not return so that the accounts are not damaged) and the second ends his contract. If the English team keeps the Brazilian in property and the French leaves (or stays charging a lower tab), the salary limit will improve significantly. That’s why they pressured Dembele in January to sign a downward renewal or leave now.

The price of the signing and the salary

The confusion

The main confusion in this mess of economic concepts was personified by Jose Bordaláscoach of Valencia, in his day when he questioned in public that Barça could sign Ferran Torres: “Barça has a debt of 300 million and signs Ferran Torreswhere is the ‘fair play’?” he asked himself. Error.

The Barça You can continue signing up and borrowing within your possibilities depending on the reliability you have for the banking entities. As a large club that generates more income than anyone in the world, it will always have that possibility because, supposedly, it has the capacity to return large amounts in a reasonable period of time. What he can’t do is break the salary cap to pay a big chip because then even the contracted player wouldn’t be able to sign up. That is why in the contracts that the players are making, they start by charging “reasonable” amounts the first or second year to increase considerably in the last years that they have been signed, when the club hopes to have already recovered an economic balance.

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