Real Madrid Under EU Investigation Over Alleged Illegal State Aid

Real Madrid are under European Commission (EU) investigation, discount according to the Independent, following allegations of illegal state aid, allegations the club deny.

According to the Independent, the club and Madrid City Council agreed a deal for land around the Bernabeu Stadium to be redeveloped into a shopping and hotel complex.

The report goes on to suggest Real’s ability to borrow money and their supremacy in the transfer market is partly dependent on the implementation of the development and the subsequent naming rights auction of a new roof over the stadium.

Allegations date back to 1996 and an agreement that allegedly constitutes illegal state aid under article 87 of the Treaty of the European Community.

The report also says it is alleged the Council overestimated their debt to the football club in order that the former could give the club the prime land they require.

Real Madrid has moved to deny the claims and claim they have not received any ‘special privileges,’ and that the valuation of Las Tablas in 2011, which found its value to increase 54-fold, was carried out by the Council, making it ‘independent.’