Atletico Madrid CEO Gil Marin: We Cannot Afford To Lose European Competition Revenue

Atletico Madrid CEO Gil Marin stresses that club needs European qualification to boost revenue streams.
Atletico Madrid CEO Gil Marin has been discussing the financial implications of a poor season for the club, and confessed that they can ill-afford to end the campaign without European qualification.

Los Colchoneros are a massive 15 points behind Villarreal, who occupy La Liga’s fourth Champions League position, but are part of a closely-contested race for the third Europa League spot, which has become available due to Barcelona and Real Madrid competing in the Copa del Rey final.

Speaking in an interview with AS, Marin outlined the revenue that would be lost if a place in Europe is not achieved, stating: “The club earns €135 million, but €110 million of this is guaranteed through TV, advertising, subscriptions, and ticket sales. This extra €20 or €25 million is not generally a problem, because it covers extraordinary income.

“Last year was great because it covered the budget as we reached the final of the Europa League and won the European Super Cup. But the truth is that we cannot be so irregular, it is inexplicable. We simply cannot afford it.”

Marin, alongside president Enrique Cerezo, spoke at length about the club’s current financial standing, and on the subject of debt, both men said that while the figure is not increasing, it remains a sizeable sum.

Marin continued: “It is not falling, but it is controlled. We could begin to reduce it, but that would mean selling players. We don’t want to do that, what we will try to do, above all, is maintain the competitiveness of the team, without losing any major players.”

Cerezo added that the club had brought in Elias and Juanfran during the transfer window at the request of coach Quique Sanchez Flores, but refused to comment on why neither has been able to hold down a place in the side.

He concluded: “We made a huge effort to sign two players, we negotiated morning, noon and night to bring in Juanfran in particular, because the coach asked us to. But we cannot go any further into technical decisions by the coach.”