It’s the football world equivalent of the BES banking collapse. Portugal’s Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional is suddenly up to its neck in debt and cannot understand how it got there.
According to reports in the nation’s media, debts for the last two years look like topping €6 million – and while this is small potatoes compared to BES, it is still upsetting the 36 clubs involved, which have now signalled the go-ahead for a forensic audit.
The source of the embarrassing shortfall appears to be “millionaire commissions” paid out to ‘an intermediary’ who organised service contracts.
Sources close to the Liga have talked of commissions in the region of 15-20%.
When set against three-year contracts in excess of €3 million, these come out at very nice sums for whoever is on the receiving end – and that is what the forensic audit aims to find out.
For now, former Liga president Mário Figueiredo is in the hot seat.
He was elected at the beginning of January 2012 and remained in his post until October 2014.
The periods in which the Liga’s debts increased exponentially were 2012/2013 and 2013/2014.
But as the pressure cranks up, Figueiredo has gone on record saying he is “absolutely tranquil”.
“While I was president of the Liga, the only money I received was my salary,” he told reporters.
As to the question that he may have paid “millionaire commissions” to an intermediary, Figueiredo replied that he had worked with the same intermediary negotiating service contracts at the last administration, and “paid exactly the same commissions”.
Liga contracts include those with drinks providers Sagres and Coca-Cola. Both are understood to have signed contracts with values of over €3 million. Thus if ‘commissions’ were in the region of 15%, an intermediary would have earnt “roughly €450,000”, writes Correio da Manhã today.
Current Liga president Luís Duque is described as hopeful that debts can be “resolved” within the next two years.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
