Barcelona president calls for 16-team La Liga

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has called for a reduction to the number of teams in La Liga from 20 to 16.

The chief of the Catalan club noted that the top tier of Spanish football is going through a difficult moment and a reduction to 18 teams in the first instance and then to 16 teams is necessary for the competition to survive.

Rosell stressed that from the 20 teams who are currently competing in La Liga, only Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna are in a stable financial situation.

“Some of the remaining 16 teams are in a bad situation and I do not believe they will recover,” he said at the International Football Arena conference in Zurich.

“Perhaps next year they will be in the second or third divisions, or will disappear altogether.”

The Barcelona president expressed his doubts about Spanish clubs being bought over by foreign investors, like in the case of Malaga and Racing Santander.

“My question is about where we are going and what will happen when these clubs can have access to limitless resources,” he said.

“They are coming to Spain and I do not like it, but it is happening.”

The 47-year-old also called for changes to the way TV revenues are distributed among Spanish clubs, giving the example of other leagues in Europe.

“The Spanish league is the only one in which TV rights are negotiated individually and at some point in the next four or five years, we will have to be on the same page and make a similar distribution to Serie A or the Premier League,” Rosell added.