Salary Cap: Barcelona and Real Madrid exceed 600 million euros

FC Barcelona, with 671.4 million euros, Real Madrid, with 641, and Atletico de Madrid, with 348.5, top the LaLiga Santander salary cap table for the 2019-2020 season, followed by Granada CF and Real Valladolid with over 30 and RCD Mallorca with 29.9 million euros, respectively.

In LaLiga SmartBank, Girona FC leads with a cap of 29.2 million euros, followed by Rayo Vallecano with 19 million and UD Almería with 18.1 million. CD Mirandés, SD Ponferradina, and CF Fuenlabrada are at the bottom with just over 4 million euros.

Maximum Amount

The salary cap is the maximum amount each club can spend on players, coaching staff (first and second coach, and physical trainer of the first team as eligible roster), as well as reserves, academy, and other sections (as non-eligible roster), according to the economic control regulations.

LaLiga explained that the cap includes fixed and variable salaries, social security contributions, collective bonuses, acquisition expenses (including commissions for agents), and amortizations (annual amount of the player's purchase imputed based on the number of years left on the player's contract).

Approval Required

Each club or SAD proposes its salary cap to LaLiga, and then the validation body must approve the proposed limit or, if necessary, adjust it to an amount that ensures the financial stability of the club. LaLiga calculates the clubs' spending capacity based on their revenues for the season from TV and commercial sources (which they must certify) and their known overhead costs from audits.

For the current season, LaLiga's calculations were based on campaigns 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, in addition to the first semester audit of the previous season (2018-2019). LaLiga specified that in the first three weeks of May each year, they inform the club of the salary cap they must comply with, clubs can provide information from April 30th, and the sports salary cap is constantly adjusted.

Not Always the Maximum Limit

The clubs' requests do not always correspond to their maximum limit, and this does not mean that they will be fully consumed. The regulations for determining salary cap limits take into account the situation of clubs that make capital increases, following the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, and also allow the valuation of players for recruitment purposes, based on data such as the number of matches played in the previous season and even the player's age.

In case of non-compliance, LaLiga opens a disciplinary proceeding, which may result in fines or even the exclusion of the club from the competition, as happened last season with Reus.

Salary Cap 2019-2020 (thousands of euros)

LaLiga Santander

Barcelona 671,429
Real Madrid 641,049
Atletico de Madrid 348,500
Sevilla 185,166
Valencia 170,673
Villarreal 108,587
Athletic 103,183
Betis 100,346
Real Sociedad 81,135
Espanyol 68,738
Celta 62,123
Getafe 56,284
Levante 54,604
Leganés 52,082
Alavés 49,771
Eibar 47,123
Osasuna 38,693
Granada 35,461
Valladolid 32,034
Mallorca 29,968

LaLiga SmartBank

Girona 29,278
Rayo Vallecano 19,061
Almería 18,122
Huesca 16,324
Las Palmas 12,246
Deportivo de la Coruña 11,354
Sporting de Gijón 11,314
Málaga 9,905
Tenerife 9,786
Cádiz 9,053
Oviedo 8,168
Albacete 7,930
Zaragoza 7,562
Extremadura 6,155
Alcorcón 6,061
Lugo 5,985
Numancia 5,286
Elche 5,084
Racing de Santander 5,078
Mirandés 4,268
Ponferradina 4,194
Fuenlabrada 4,052