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SPAIN’S top football clubs, including Real Madrid and Barcelona, will get lucrative cash infusions under a proposed €2,7 billion (US$3,2 billion) deal between the country’s top league and a private equity firm.

Local media reports initially suggested the injection could help Barca resolve star forward Lionel Messi’s contract situation.

It was also mooted that the cash could prove pivotal in Real’s reported pursuit of Paris St Germain’s Kylian Mbappe.

However La Liga said clubs would be obliged to use 70 percent of the money they receive on infrastructure improvements, such as technology.

A maximum of 15 percent can be used on player acquisition and a further 15 percent to finance debts.

There is a Zimbabwean interest, when it comes to La Liga, with the first bricks being laid, in the creation of a foundation, on which a number of local footballers will be able to play in the league.

Athletes Sports Management director, Gerald Sibanda, whose company entered into a strategic alliance with La Liga side, Real Betis Balompie, last year, has been in Spain since the weekend, exploring possible opportunities for local football.

‘’The most important thing is the development of our football, and the many opportunities that we want to create for Zimbabwe, especially with Real Betis, especially the brand,’’ Sibanda told The Herald this week.

“Obviously, it becomes a dream for all of us involved here (at Real Betis) to see the first Zimbabwean player to play in La Liga Santander.

“We have never had a Zimbabwean player, playing in La Liga and, so, we are looking at creating as many opportunities as possible, for that to happen.’’

If the financial strength of Real Betis is improved, it also means this could benefit their partners, including the academy, which the club now run in this country.

Already, local companies like Doves and Mirveva have taken advantage of the opportunity, provided by the partnership between Real Betis and their local partners, to use La Liga to reach to a wider audience and market.

“There is the announcement of a big partnership, in the coming few days,’’ Sibanda said, in what was probably a preview of yesterday’s huge announcement.

“Without sharing much, on this one, I think we just have to wait for the finalising of this deal, to go through.’’

And, in a statement yesterday, La Liga said it had agreed in principle a “multipronged” deal with CVC including the €2.7 billion infusion, in return for 10 percent of its revenue, as well as the creation of a newly-formed company housing a range of commercial activities, in which CVC would also take a 10 percent stake.

The Spanish football league’s executive committee later approved the plan, dubbed “Boost La Liga” (La Liga Impulso), and it will now be voted on by all league members, at a General Assembly, on a date to be set.

The deal values La Liga at around €24,25 billion and, if approved by clubs, will fund what it called “structural improvements” while offsetting some of the immediate impact from Covid-19, the league said in a statement.

La Liga said the cash injection – 90 percent of which will go to clubs – would be distributed on the basis of a formula derived from average audiovisual revenues over the last seven years, when La Liga started commercialising rights as a collective — implying the top two would get the biggest chunks.

Barca declined to comment when contacted by Reuters about the deal.

Real did not immediately respond to request for comment.

CVC were part of a consortium last year, which entered talks to buy a stake in the media business of Italy’s top football league, but the deal fell through, following objections from some clubs.

Faced with the end of a cycle of rapid growth in the value of TV rights – and pummeled by a year of next to zero ticket sales due to restrictions on crowds – football leagues and clubs, not just in Spain, are scrambling to find alternative sources of revenue.

The failure of an attempt earlier this year by 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs to set up a breakaway Super League ratcheted up pressure on the top clubs.

Under the terms of the deal, La Liga would set up a new company to house commercial elements, such as sponsorship deals, the league’s technology arm La Liga Tech and their joint US venture – including plans to stage a league match in the United States – in which CVC would take a tenth.

It didn’t say what structural improvements it envisaged but these could include stadium and training facilities.

Management of the league’s sporting responsibilities and its audiovisual rights business would remain outside the scope of the transaction, La Liga said.

“When it comes to the rights strategy and sales, this will continue to be handled by La Liga,” a spokesperson said.

With the boost from the investment, the Spanish league hopes to match or exceed the English Premier League’s business, in the next six to seven years, a source close to La Liga added.

For CVC, which used to own Formula One, the deal would add to its interests in sport.

It agreed in March to invest 365 million pounds for a share in rugby union’s Six Nations tournament, grouping France, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Italy. — Reuters/Sports Reporter.