Turkish banks press ahead with football club debt restructuring

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's banking association said on Friday that the restructuring of the mounting debts of the country's top football clubs was moving forward, adding that the debts would be matured for five years, with two years without paying the principal on the loans.





In January, the Turkish banking Association (TBB) said Turkey's top football clubs, such as Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, will have their debts restructured but not written off, in a move to ease their spiralling debts.

In a statement on Friday, the TBB said there would be "no erasing of debts or pricing beyond market norms. The financial liabilities subject to restructuring will be matured for a total of five years, with two years of non-refundable principal."

"It is not possible to transfer the debts of football clubs to a bank, and each bank will continue to manage its own credit risk," it added.

Like many Turkish businesses which took large foreign currency loans, clubs have also suffered from a currency crisis that saw Turkey's lira lose almost 30 percent of its value against the dollar in 2018.

The "Big Four" clubs - which also include Besiktas and Trabzonspor - have spent heavily to attract foreign stars. Poor domestic and international results have exacerbated the debts they have amassed.

As the clubs struggle with their debts, which have racked up to more than 10 billion lira (1 billion pounds), they have started to offload valuable players to alleviate some of the financial burdens - putting the teams under more pressure on the pitch.













(Reporting by Ebru Tuncay and Tuvan Gumrukcu, editing by Louise Heavens)


Share
2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
Turkish banks press ahead with football club debt restructuring | SBS News