Real Betis post €15m losses after choosing Champions League run over selling stars

Real Betis closed the last financial year with losses of around €15 million, a figure that will be put to a vote at the Ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting at the end of the year. The Seville club breaks a run of three consecutive seasons without posting a deficit. The main reason was the decision not to sell its best players during the club's return to the Champions League, even though the budget required income from player sales.

• Betis will present annual accounts showing a deficit of around €15 million.
• The club needed to generate transfer profits to balance the budget, but those sales never materialized in time.
• Major offers for players such as Abde and Natan arrived once the financial year had already closed.
• The board chose to protect the squad instead of underselling star players during the Champions League season.
• Returning to Europe's top competition guarantees more than €40 million in income for 2026-27.

Why Betis reliance on player trading left its budget exposed

Betis' economic model for competing in the upper reaches of LaLiga has long depended on including a yearly income line from capital gains on player sales. That formula allows the club to carry a more valuable squad while ordinary revenue remains below the level expected once the new Benito Villamarín is fully operational. It is a strategy the Verdiblancos have used for several seasons.

Last season exposed the risks of that approach. After a significant investment in signings, including Antony (€22 million), Nelson Deossa (€13 million), Rodrigo Riquelme (€8 million), Valentín Gómez (€5.5 million) and Gonzalo Petit (€4.5 million), Betis needed to complete major sales that never arrived in time. The exits of Sergi Altimira to Sporting CP for €18.25 million and Nobel Mendy, who left close to €8 million through his move to Rayo Vallecano and later sale to Hull City, were not enough to cover what had been budgeted.

The decision to protect stars during the Champions League season

Faced with that gap, the board made a clear call. With the team competing in the Champions League for the first time in more than two decades, keeping key players became the priority over accepting cut-price departures to plug the shortfall in transfer profits. Significant offers for Abde and Natan, which would have delivered major gains, came when the financial year had already closed and left no room to find reliable replacements.

Other smaller sales that could have helped balance the books also failed to materialize. Players such as Deossa, Junior, Losada and Lo Celso stayed in the squad. The club accepted the losses in order to protect a high-level group during a demanding season on the pitch.

How Champions League revenue and the salary cap reward the gamble

The sporting bet also has a strong economic counterweight. Playing in the Champions League will bring Betis more than €40 million in 2026-27 through prize money, season tickets and matchday income. That figure supports the argument that keeping the competitive core intact could offset the short-term losses from the previous year.

The return to Europe's elite competition has already lifted the club's salary limit above €142 million. In addition, LaLiga's projection placed Betis 27th in the Champions League league phase, an estimate based on how other Spanish sides performed the previous season. If Manuel Pellegrini's team progresses through the rounds, competition income could exceed expectations.

How Betis plans to offset the €15 million shortfall this season

Betis knows it must gradually offset the €15 million deficit over the current campaign while also generating the transfer profits included in the new budget. Player sales are not the only route. A deep run in the Champions League knockout phase would increase projected income and ease the pressure on the accounts.

Ángel Haro: "We should have made a big sale to balance the books"

Club president Ángel Haro had already signaled the losses in a recent public appearance and explained the reasoning behind them. He admitted the club would have liked to complete another departure, but player decisions played a decisive role: when a footballer says he does not want to leave, he does not leave.

We would have liked another exit, but when players say they are not leaving, they are not leaving. We should have made a big sale to balance the books. Betis has ordinary expenses made up of squad costs, and we need transfer profits to balance the accounts if we want this squad, not one fighting for 8th to 15th place.

Haro also referred to the last-day offer for Abde, which fell short of his release clause and was rejected to keep the group together. He argued that Betis is the fourth-highest investor in the league and has the fifth-best squad in LaLiga. From there, he opened a broader debate for shareholders: sustaining that level requires constant transfer profits, and he is not willing to explore other formulas that would condemn the team to mid-table.

We are the fourth biggest investor and have the fifth best squad in LaLiga. We need to reduce squad spending. With that you can build a team to reach Europe, but not to the same level as having the fifth best squad. We have to balance the squad with transfer profits. We have had success. There are other formulas, but I am not willing to play them and then finish 8th or 12th… Shareholders must debate whether this is the right policy or not.

How the new Benito Villamarín fits into Betis long-term strategy

The board expects that once the redeveloped Benito Villamarín generates higher ordinary revenue, the club's dependence on transfer profits will gradually decline. Until then, player sales will remain a core part of the budget. The €15 million gap from the last financial year reflects that transition period between the current model and the one that will arrive with the stadium operating at full capacity.