Spain: €542m in tax and social security debts for clubs on 31/08/2014 (-18.25% in 14 months)

The debt of Spanish professional clubs to the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish Treasury, amounted to €542,668,779.07 on 31/08/2014, Cristóbal Montoro, Minister of Finance and Public Administration, confirmed on behalf of Spanish Government on 03/12/2014. This amount, already announced by Cristóbal Montoro on the radio channel Onda Cero on 01/10/2014, exceeds the amount (€432m debt on 31/08/2014) indicated by the LFP (Spanish Professional Football League) on 20/09/2014 by €110m (25.5%) -- a figure disputed by the Agencia Tributaria.

For comparison, the tax liabilities of Spanish clubs amounted to €663m on 30/06/2013 according to the Spanish government, which means the amount has decreased by €121m (or 18.25%) in the space 14 months.

27 of the 122 clubs in Primera, Segunda and Segunda B (Spanish first, second, and third divisions), or 22.1%, are currently under the protection of the "concursal" laws that allow companies to declare bankruptcy to reduce a part of their debts, said the Spanish government. Tax and social security debts accumulated by these 27 clubs amounted to…