In the summer and winter windows of the season, La Liga fans have been watching with great interest on the transfer deals of the teams they support. Want to know how the transfer market works behind the scenes? When a player's contract is agreed, how will the two clubs complete the operation and register the player in La Liga?
The first thing to mention is that the entire transfer process is carried out digitally. Since the summer of 2016, Spanish professional clubs have used software called LaLiga Manager to complete all deals for new or departing players. To date, La Liga teams have managed more than 2,000 transfers through the software, making transfers easier, more practical and safer for players.
LaLiga Manager is an online tool that provides clubs performing transfers with all the documents they need to fill out or upload to ensure that every transaction is completed correctly, and also provides verifiable information. The tool also contains all the FIFA, UEFA and La Liga regulations that need to be met, whether the player is a free agent, or needs to pay a transfer fee or trigger a floating clause, which needs to be followed. In a recent update, LaLiga Manager was also added to the Spanish Football Federation's Fénix system, an essential formality in the player registration process. Therefore, this tool can help manage every stage of the player transfer process.
The personalized LaLiga Manager platform is very user-friendly and transfer managers can log in from anywhere and then submit relevant information at the appropriate location according to the guidance, and the drop-down menu design in the platform makes the process easier, just like using an online banking app on a mobile phone, or booking a plane train ticket on the website.
Once the club has agreed on a deal and reached individual contract terms with the players, the person in charge of signing the contract can send all the details to La Liga through LaLiga Manager. If a player is transferred between two Spanish teams, the seller must first remove the player from their app list.
All information related to the transaction must be entered into laLiga Manager, including the amount paid, the terms of the player's new contract, any details involved in the transaction, and all relevant taxes. These details must be provided whether the acquirer is negotiating with a La Liga team or a foreign league team. This is even necessary when a youth player moves to the first team. The player's photo will also be uploaded to the system as this will be used for their official la Liga registration, and the assignment of shirt numbers will also be displayed on this platform.
Once the club has completed these processes, the professionals of the La Liga competition team will use LaLiga Manager to modify the files and check that all the details are correct and in line with the latest rules.
La Liga also verifies each transfer fee to ensure that every transaction complies with fiscal rules that guarantee that Spanish clubs don't spend more than they budget. This helps La Liga and La Liga clubs operate within the economic range they can afford, as well as keep player spending within limits. It should be noted that La Liga does not impose specific salary limits on any player, so there is no upper limit on the income of any player, as long as it does not violate the rules, the club can allocate resources at will.
When a transfer involves two Spanish clubs, the seller will also ask the La Liga manager to verify all the details provided by the other party, and the La Liga competition department will once again study the impact of the transaction on the economic control limit. For added peace of mind to the club, all sensitive information entered on LaLiga Manager is subject to state-of-the-art security safeguards.
The LaLiga Manager system ensures that all transfers, even those made within the last hour of the transfer window, are completed smoothly. This means it is easier for clubs to start negotiating matters.