Belgian football clubs enjoy certain social and tax benefits (see also this link for more information). Belgian politicians now want to withdraw these benefits. Doing so would, however, be short-sighted and populistic as:
- It does not change anything to the core of the problems in Belgian football (ie lack of corporate governance, conflicts of interest, corruption,…);
- The Belgian Jupiler Pro League will lose its competitive power within Europe. Players (or certain groups of players) in leagues of a similar level (Holland, France, Denmark, Portugal…) pay less taxes than the players in Belgium. Football players in Belgium will hence be incentivized to play elsewhere.
Belgian politicians tend to be very present when Belgian football clubs have important games. They should now realize that, further to the withdrawal of the social and tax benefits, Belgian football will not be competitive anymore.
In an ideal world all European clubs should fall under the same social and tax regime. As long as this is not the case, it is essential that the clubs in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League should enjoy similar advantages as clubs in similar leagues.
