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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25410320

Real Madrid and Barcelona are among seven Spanish clubs to be investigated over alleged illegal state aid.

The Spanish foreign ministry announced that the European Commission will also begin proceedings against Osasuna, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Elche.

Hercules, who play in the second tier, are also under investigation.

What is the European Commission?
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and day-to-day running of the EU

"The government will fight to defend Spanish clubs because they're also part of the Spanish brand," said foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo.

The proceedings could take months to conclude and will be officially announced on Wednesday added Margallo, who denied the clubs had broken EU rules.

He said Barcelona, Real Madrid, Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao are accused of contravening European Union rules because they are still owned by their members and had benefited from favourable tax treatment.

The Commission was also probing Real over their training facilities and Bilbao over aid they received for the construction of their new stadium, which opened this season, he added.

Valencia, Elche and Hercules were being investigated because of help the three clubs received from the regional government in the form of loans and bank guarantees.

A few years too late, how many bail outs did Real receive from the royal family and government?

Twobob wrote:A few years too late, how many bail outs did Real receive from the royal family and government?

Including the way over market value sale of the training complex.
Nah, nothing will happen, a few rolex watches, whores and a tray of ferrero rocher will see to that

Bianchi on Ice wrote:

Twobob wrote:A few years too late, how many bail outs did Real receive from the royal family and government?

Including the way over market value sale of the training complex.
Nah, nothing will happen, a few rolex watches, whores and a tray of ferrero rocher will see to that

fucking love ferrero rocher, me ... i'd let em off.

Was actually even covered on NPR today (our version of BBC radio) for about 5 minutes. Pretty rare for a soccer story and makes me think this is serious

bigblue wrote:Was actually even covered on NPR today (our version of BBC radio) for about 5 minutes. Pretty rare for a soccer story and makes me think this is serious

I listen to NPR everyday . Especially Car Talk at the weekends. They quite often cover European sports.

interested to see what shakes out of this.

Buy into the next round as barca should be suspended from european competition until the investigation is over - only fair

zuricity wrote:

bigblue wrote:Was actually even covered on NPR today (our version of BBC radio) for about 5 minutes. Pretty rare for a soccer story and makes me think this is serious

I listen to NPR everyday . Especially Car Talk at the weekends. They quite often cover European sports.

? Maybe because I'm in DC but they seem to mostly (95%) cover politics, economics, health issues, some technology, and personal stories. European sports barely gets a mention at all (last night was the 1st time I can remember).

La Liga stinks to high heaven. Two big clubs control every aspect of the game throwing the other clubs a few crumbs now and then. Then when they get greedy the governement bails them out only for them to go and spend big again, leaving them in the same position. Like the Rags, they have huge debts to service and it looks like the rest of Europe have had enough, especially as it's them who are footing the bill to keep the Spanish economy afloat.

Good on them I say and let's see if they really have got the balls to investigate it fully or if it's a shot across their bow to ensure the practice of funding their clubs now ceases.

bigblue wrote:
? Maybe because I'm in DC but they seem to mostly (95%) cover politics, economics, health issues, some technology, and personal stories. European sports barely gets a mention at all (last night was the 1st time I can remember).

I listen to a stream from wnyc, even mentioned us a couple of times in the last few years. Like the NYT .

bigblue wrote: ? Maybe because I'm in DC but they seem to mostly (95%) cover politics, economics, health issues, some technology, and personal stories. European sports barely gets a mention at all (last night was the 1st time I can remember).

We have three stations here for public radio. Our most popular The Current has a football show on Monday nights for two hours. It covers the NASL (division 2) mainly our local team, MLS and the Premier League.

zuricity wrote:

bigblue wrote:
? Maybe because I'm in DC but they seem to mostly (95%) cover politics, economics, health issues, some technology, and personal stories. European sports barely gets a mention at all (last night was the 1st time I can remember).

I listen to a stream from wnyc, even mentioned us a couple of times in the last few years. Like the NYT .

Ah that would explain it. Down here it's WAMU

Is this not the same accusation levelled at City? I seem to remember this story cropping up from time to time regarding our situation with the stadium

Im_Spartacus wrote:Is this not the same accusation levelled at City? I seem to remember this story cropping up from time to time regarding our situation with the stadium

I believe that it is a completely different matter (and much more serious) in the eyes of the European Commission, when member countries unfairly prop-up domestic businesses who are in direct competition against businesses from other member countries.

The accusations leveled against us were along the lines of misrepresenting private transactions. The accusations at hand is about breaking international trade agreements.

Problems at Barca:

Messi and others questioned by the Guardia Civil for possible tax evasion
Transfer of Neymar under scrutiny from National Court for possible dodgy dealing
Euro Commission investigating them
De-stabilisation campaign against them especially regarding Messi (paranoia or City/Real plot?)
Large debts - not sure how far they have got these down if at all
Team declining, best manager gone

john@staustell wrote:Problems at Barca:

Messi and others questioned by the Guardia Civil for possible tax evasion
Transfer of Neymar under scrutiny from National Court for possible dodgy dealing
Euro Commission investigating them
De-stabilisation campaign against them especially regarding Messi (paranoia or City/Real plot?)
Large debts - not sure how far they have got these down if at all
Team declining, best manager gone

Hmm.

A can we get first dibs on Messi for when he comes out of jail ?

we got first option for when messi gets out of jail when we sold them denis suarez. part of the deal.