By Tugrul Aksar/ August 10, 2024 The 67^th season of the Super League has started. In this season, we are experiencing both positive and negative developments in our football.

First of all, let's focus on the issues that will have a positive impact on our football season.

I. POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS THAT WILL AFFECT THIS SEASON FOR TURKISH FOOTBALL 

1. Türkiye is in 9^th place in the UEFA rankings.

Our country ranking, which dropped to 20^th place in 2022, is in 9^th place with 38,600 points as of 2024. Accordingly, we will send 2 teams to the Champions League, 2 teams to the Europa League and 1 team to the Conference League.

Our country's rise to 9^th place in UEFA means that we can send our champion directly to the Champions League. The second place team will be able to go to the Champions League by playing two qualifying rounds.

2. Pool Revenues Will Increase in the Super League in 2024/25

With the new broadcasting tender held in 2024, the broadcasting rights sales price of the Super League for the 2024-25 season was determined as 182 million dollars. The pool revenues distributed to the clubs in the 2023-24 season were 74.6 million dollars at the average exchange rate.

The remaining amount, after the Turkish Football Association (TFA) share is deducted and paid to the lower leagues in 2024-25, will be distributed to the Super League clubs. Following the conclusion of the new broadcasting tender, the bonus that the team that will be the champion in the new season will receive has also been determined.

In this context, the amount of awards to be distributed to clubs in the Super League in the 2024-25 season will increase by 115 percent, reaching 145 percent!

The Super League 2024-2025 season will be played with 19 teams. Each of the Super League teams will put at least 86.5 million liras into their coffers as a participation fee, even if there is no increase in the exchange rate in the new season. 

The team that wins the championship at the end of the season will earn 115% more money compared to the 2023-2024 season. The clubs that won the championship in previous years will be the winners of a prize of 7.18 million liras for each championship. The Super League champion will receive 86 million liras as a championship bonus in the 2024-2025 season.

The clubs that won the championship in previous years will be the winners of a prize of 7.18 million liras for each championship.The teams will earn 5.98 million lira for each win and 2.99 million lira for each draw.

3. Super League is in 8th place in Europe with a value of 1.06 billion Euros

This season, with club transfers, the value of the Super League's transfer fees increased by 60 million Euros, reaching 1,060 million Euros.

According to Transfermarkt website data, the Super League is the eighth most valuable league among European leagues. According to the ranking, the Super League is in eighth place with a value of 1,060 million Euros.

In the 2024-25 season, 19 teams will compete in the Super League. The team with the highest squad value in the Super League, which has a total value of 1,060 million Euros, is Fenerbahçe with a value of 252.4 million Euros. The team with the lowest squad value is Bodrumspor Football Club with a value of 12.9 million Euros.

- There are a total of 612 players in our league. 42.5% of them (260 players) are foreign players.

- The average value per player is 1.74 Million Euros.

- The average player age is 25.9.

- The most valuable player is Fenerbahçe's Ferdi Kadıoğlu, with a transfer fee of 30 million Euros.

II. TROUBLESOME ISSUES IN TURKISH FOOTBALL 

Below, I am sharing with you the difficult issues that will challenge Turkish football this season. 

1. We Had a Transfer Deficit of 77 Million This Season

Our clubs made important transfers in the 2024-25 season. When we look at our transfer balance sheet, we observe that our clubs have a deficit of 76.8 million Euros. This situation causes the financial balance of our football to deteriorate. It increases the cash deficit and negatively affects club profitability.

Table: 1) Super League 2024-25 Summer Transfers (Million Euros)

For the 2024-25 Super League season, clubs spent a total of 110.45 million Euros on transfers, while their transfer revenues amounted to 33,572 thousand Euros. Accordingly, Super League teams had a transfer deficit of 76,878 thousand Euros.

- 92.5% of transfer spending (102.4 million Euros) was made by the big four clubs.

- 58% of transfer revenues belong to the big four clubs. (Total 19.5 Million Euros)

- The transfer deficit of 4 clubs was 84.4 million Euros. The income of other clubs reduced the transfer deficit to 76.8 million Euros.

- The biggest transfer surplus was given by Alanyaspor with 6 Million Euros. Alanyaspor sold Oğuz Aydın to Fenerbahçe for 6 Million Euros.

2. Club Debt Continues to Rise

 According to the financial statements sent by the clubs to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP ), the total debt of just 4 clubs has reached 29.5 billion TL . When the debts of other clubs are taken into account, the debt burden of the Super League has exceeded 30 billion TL (834 million €).

 Total club revenues reached 14 Billion TL (390 Mio €).

 According to these financial data, debts have increased to 1.14 times revenues. This situation poses a great danger for our clubs. 

3. Clubs in the Spiral of Interest, Exchange Rate and Inflation 

 Different Colors, Common Troubles: Clubs in the Interest-Exchange Rate-Foreign Exchange Spiral!

 Although our clubs are seeing increases in their income, there are also significant increases in their debts and total liabilities. Clubs that have to continue their activities with high debts are faced with the following burning problems. The fundamental negativities in the general economic course have dragged the clubs into a spiral of interest + exchange rate + inflation. Let me try to clearly state this situation below:

 Clubs are constantly losing money because they have a foreign exchange deficit. The foreign exchange liabilities of the clubs, which have to make payments to their players mostly in Euros, are constantly increasing and the exchange rates are constantly rising. When looked at in this context, the total foreign exchange deficit of the four clubs has reached 6.3 billion TL. (The Euro equivalent of this amount is 190 million Euros at today's current exchange rates).

 As the increase in interest rates increases the interest on debt restructuring, the losses of the clubs increase and their equity capital erodes.While the clubs' bank loans were restructured in 2021, the interest rate on the existing debt with banks was changed to TL RIR + 1.5. (This is also confirmed in the clubs' activity reports) In March 2021, the TL RIR (reference interest rate) rate was around 18.8%. The clubs' borrowing costs were also revised accordingly. However, over the past two years, the TL RIR rate has increased to 44% in 2024. This means a 135% cost increase in financial expenses.

High inflation is eroding clubs' TL income. As of March 2021, when clubs' loans were restructured, the official CPI (Consumer Price Index) was 16.19%, while the official inflation rate was 61.78% as of 2024. Accordingly, the increase in inflation between 2021-24 was 281%. Although clubs increased their products, match entrance tickets and season tickets, these increases could not prevent the erosion of the income of clubs whose income is predominantly in TL.

4. Other Common and Fundamental Financial Problems of Clubs 

 If we list other important and common problems faced by clubs;

Clubs Cannot Escape Net Debt

 Clubs’ cash deficits are increasing rapidly

According to the financial statements announced by the four clubs, their cash requirements for the remaining nine months of the year reach 11 billion TL. 

Clubs Cannot Make Profit

In order for clubs to have a healthy and sustainable financial structure, they must first make a profit from their main activities. Since the profits obtained outside the main activities are not sustainable profits, it is not possible to achieve sustainable growth and cumulative losses increase. 

Economic negativities and unpredictability do not allow for a sustainable financial structure 

5. Team Spending Limits (TSL) Are Pushing Clubs Away from Financial Discipline 

 The Turkish Football Association (TFA)' s TSL application aims to strengthen the financial structures of clubs by controlling and supervising their spending budgets; defining spending limits above the income of the teams, the current application is far from ensuring the financial adequacy of the clubs and establishing financial balance. On the contrary, it appears as a palliative solution that encourages spending and helps save the day. This application means that the competitive balance will deteriorate further in the medium and long term and unfair and unbalanced competition will increase.

 6. There is a Gap Between Teams in Terms of Roster

As shown above, there are huge gaps in squad values among the Super League teams. In fact, the total squad values of the big 4 clubs (€710.7 million) constitute 67% (2/3) of the Super League squad values. While the average squad values of the four clubs reach €177.7 million, the average of the other 15 teams is around €55.8 million. In other words, the team values of the four clubs are 3.2 times higher than the average value of the other fifteen clubs.

 This situation constitutes the basic dynamic of unfair competition in the Super League.

 Conclusion

Having difficulty finding solutions to the problems it has been struggling with for years, Turkish football has become a league that is completely dependent on the live broadcast revenues supported by the football authority, has difficulty generating income with its own internal dynamics, has low ratings, mediocre football quality and weak competition. During this process, there is a tremendous economic, financial and sporting unfair and unbalanced competition in the Super League in favor of the big ones and against the small ones. This also reduces the quality and competitive ability of our football. Unfortunately, our chance of achieving permanent success with a league structure that designs the competition on an unsustainable ground does not seem very possible in this administrative structure and this political climate.

 Despite all these negativities, I welcome you to the Super League. 

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