Iberian League or Cup is the way to go. Can he save La Liga and come within touching distance of the Premier League?

A combination of Spanish and Portuguese football competitions. A fantastic idea from a commercial point of view. Although the smaller teams will suffer. The new league could include most of the Spanish teams and the top three or even six clubs in Portugal.

Domingo Soares de Oliveira, one of Benfica Lisbon’s top officials, on
the Business of Football summit organised by the Financial Times in London discussed the creation of a league between Portugal and Spain, which would primarily benefit the Portuguese market.

“From a commercial point of view, the Iberian League (Iberian League) would be fantastic, we would take advantage of a population of 50 million. Smaller clubs would disappear because they would not be able to compete with Benfica, Porto and Sporting,” commented Domingo Soares de Oliveira.

His team has made a hefty sum in recent transfer seasons. In January they sold Argentine Enzo Fernández to Chelsea for 121 million euros, before that they sold Uruguayan Darwin Núñez to Liverpool for 100 million euros. Benfica’s biggest deal came in 2019, when Portuguese João Félix moved to Atlético Madrid for €127 million.

If Benfica want to “compete at the highest level, they cannot rely on the same sources of income as others,” the 62-year-old official revealed. Given the constraints of the Portuguese market, trading players has become part of his club’s strategy,

For many, the competition could become very interesting. The number of attractive matches will be more, the league could approach the Premier League, not financially, but in attractiveness yes. For the top Spanish and Portuguese clubs it would be very good in every respect and the league itself would generate more money without a doubt.

From the perspective of the Portuguese teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid, this is a great idea. However, for Sevilla, Villareal, Betis and other teams from Spain, it is a dramatic idea. The chances of winning European cups will drop dramatically and the profits from matches against the Portuguese top flight will not cover the losses. However, we can look for a compromise, which may be the Iberian Cup.

In a league of twenty teams there would probably be fourteen Spanish and six Portuguese teams. Conversely, in the Iberian Cup, where the top four clubs from the Spanish and Portuguese leagues face each other in a knockout system, with a home/away format and one final match.This may be another possibility.

The last time the two countries played a similar joint competition was in the 1940/41 season. It featured four teams from each country. The Iberian tournament was won by Atlético Madrid 82 years ago.

Source: FCBarca