Turkey’s four big football teams’ debts reaches peak record in nine months

Ceyhun Kuburlu

Four of Turkey’s biggest football teams have reached a record high amount of debt in the season between June 1, 2016, and Feb. 28.  

The total debt of Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor reached 3.8 billion Turkish Liras during the season, as their total income remained at 1.1 billion liras.

The debts of the four teams kept rising despite the Financial Fair Play Regulation (FFP) of the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) regarding football teams. 

But debts also kept increasing despite warnings sent to football teams’ administrations over the amount of money spent on football player transfers during the season. 

Galatasaray topped the share of the loan burden with 1.2 billion liras in debt, as Fenerbahçe followed it with 1.1 billion liras. While this year’s champion, Beşiktaş, came third with 970 million liras, Trabzonspor’s debt was 520 million liras.

Beşiktaş had the highest income with 403.7 million liras in the nine-month period. Licensed products and gate receipts were the main source of income. Some 65 million came just from the sale of licensed products. 
 
Fenerbahçe came second with 349.7 million liras, followed by Trabzonspor with 126.8 million liras, including royalties worth 46 million liras.

The worst income record belonged to the ailing Galatasaray, which is trying to erase its debt by selling its vast field in Istanbul’s Riva. 

Galatasaray manager Dursun Özbek, however, said the debt of the team was 610 million liras.

“A perception is trying to be created to make Galatasaray seem like it has a huge debt. Our debt to banks and financial institutions is 610 million liras. We will clear all the debt after selling the Riva field,” he said.