Barcelona Has its Spending Limit Increased but Remains Well Below Real Madrid's Cap

Pedestrians walk on the Gran Via street in downtown Madrid, as a thermometer reads 35 degrees Celsius, on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)
Pedestrians walk on the Gran Via street in downtown Madrid, as a thermometer reads 35 degrees Celsius, on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)
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Barcelona Has its Spending Limit Increased but Remains Well Below Real Madrid's Cap

Pedestrians walk on the Gran Via street in downtown Madrid, as a thermometer reads 35 degrees Celsius, on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)
Pedestrians walk on the Gran Via street in downtown Madrid, as a thermometer reads 35 degrees Celsius, on September 12, 2024. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)

Real Madrid remains with the Spanish league's highest spending limit following the summer transfer window, while Barcelona improved significantly but remained well below its rival's cap, The Associated Press reported.
The league released the cost limits for each team on Thursday, with Madrid's cap reaching nearly 755 million euros ($833 million), up from 727 million euros ($803 million).
Barcelona's limit more than doubled from 204 million euros ($225 million) after the winter transfer market to 426 million euros ($470 million), but the Catalan club could still be in a delicate situation going into the next transfer window if it doesn't make moves to improve its finances.
Atletico Madrid is the Spanish club with the third-highest spending limit at 310 million euros ($342 million), up from 303 million euros ($334 million).
Sevilla was among the teams struggling the most, with its limit being reduced from more than 150 million euros ($165 million) to only 2.5 million euros ($2.7 million).
The cost limit represents the maximum amount each club can spend on players, coaches and other staff. It also includes spending on reserves, the youth system and other areas.
Each Spanish league club has a different spending limit based on factors such as revenues, costs and debts. It is proportional to roughly 70% of a club’s revenues. Clubs that are overspending need to find ways to either reduce costs or attract new investment.



French Prosecutors Launch Probe after 2 Congolese Paralympic Athletes Go Missing

Employees are at work to dismantle the Olympic venue of Pont Alexandre III near the Grand Palais in Paris, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
Employees are at work to dismantle the Olympic venue of Pont Alexandre III near the Grand Palais in Paris, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
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French Prosecutors Launch Probe after 2 Congolese Paralympic Athletes Go Missing

Employees are at work to dismantle the Olympic venue of Pont Alexandre III near the Grand Palais in Paris, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
Employees are at work to dismantle the Olympic venue of Pont Alexandre III near the Grand Palais in Paris, on September 11, 2024. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
According to The Associated Press, prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes' delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes' suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from AP.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers said.