Seven Spanish football clubs have to return a total of 52.1 million Euros between them after the European Commission (EC) said they got the money from the EU illegally.

The football clubs used tax dodges, made transfers of land over-valued by millions of Euros and borrowed money from state-owned banks, gaining an unfair advantage, said the EC.

FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao, Atlético Osasuna, Elche and Hercules claimed tax benefits and subsidies as non-profit companies, while in fact, they were limited liability companies.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, comments: ” 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.”

In a second investigation, the EC put a land transfer between Real Madrid and the City of Madrid under the microscope. An independent study found that the land in the transaction was overvalued by €18.4 million. This gave Real Madrid an unjustified advantage over other clubs, which it now needs to pay back.

The state-owned Valencia Institute of Finance (IVF) gave favourable loans to three Valencia football clubs ( Valencia , Hercules and Elche). At the time, those clubs were in financial difficulties.

“As the clubs paid no adequate remuneration for the guarantees, this gave them an economic advantage over other clubs, who have to raise money without state backing. In order to restore the level playing field with non-subsidised clubs, Valencia, Hercules and Elche now have to pay back the advantage they received. This amounts to €20.4 million for Valencia, €6.1 million for Hercules and €3.7 million for Elche,” said the EC.