Barcelona, Real Madrid among clubs ordered to reimburse state aid

Barcelona, Real Madrid, and five other Spanish clubs were found guilty of gaining an "unfair" advantage by receiving state aid and enjoying tax breaks, the European Commission ruled Monday.

"Using tax payers' money to finance professional football clubs can create unfair competition. Professional football is a commercial activity with significant money involved and public money must comply with fair competition rules. The subsidies we investigated in these cases did not," said commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a statement.

All seven clubs must now reimburse the state in varying sums. Madrid faces an €18.4 million bill for an "overvalued" land deal struck between the club and the city in 1998. In addition, Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, and Osasuna must pay up to €5 million after enjoying a lower tax rate as non-profit organisations for more than 20 years. In reality, they are supposed to be treated as commercial companies.

Meanwhile, Valencia (€20.4 million), Hercules (€6.1 million), and Elche (€3.7 million) have to pay back loans to the state-owned Valencia Institute of Finance.

The EU has rules in place to prevent the use of public funding for competitive purposes.