Restricting “withdrawal in pounds” … Sport also pays the price



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About a year ago, with the start of the events on October 17 in various Lebanese regions, sporting activity came to a complete halt. Demonstrations, sit-ins, roadblocks and the difficulty of moving between regions paralyzed sporting activity, but the final blow came as a result of the economic and monetary crisis and the rise in the dollar exchange rate. However, “what makes things worse” is the decision of the new Banque du Liban, whereby banks set the amounts authorized to withdraw from their checking accounts in Lebanese pounds, thus putting more pressure on sports clubs, especially in football and basketball.

The Lebanese, including the sports club administrations, cannot withdraw the money they need in Lebanese pounds. The decision to determine withdrawal caps in dollars previously created many problems between players and club administrations, so the latter resorted to lowering salaries and converting them into pounds, to be able to continue and not declare bankruptcy and walk away forever.
First of all, the biggest victims are basketball clubs, which spend huge sums every year, especially in terms of player salaries. Some clubs resorted to paying “bank checks” in US dollars, or converted part of the dollar salary into pounds at the exchange rate of 3,900 pounds, and the other part was paid in Lebanese. Lebanese sport fell into financial chaos and several top basketball players turned to outside contracts to achieve financial stability. Negative activity later ceased and is still due to the financial crisis and the Crown crisis, and there are many problems between players and clubs, and the new decision is expected to contribute to deepening them.
The big problem will also be football. During the last period, some big clubs used to pay the salaries of some players by “bank checks” in US dollars, and the player cashes them from the bank on the basis that each dollar is equal to 3900 pounds. Even the issue of “checks” created many problems between clubs and players, because banks sometimes did not deliver the full funds. The financial problem, especially the one related to the breakdown of the US dollar, caused a difficult decision to be made, which is to stop hiring foreign players, which affected the national league in one way or another.
Today, with banks adopting – after the decision of the Central Bank of Lebanon – procedures to set a limit for withdrawals in LBP, the task will become difficult for clubs that need funds to prepare and pay salaries and even take procedures. travel in case there is an external right. Notably, some top-tier football clubs pay monthly salaries of up to 150 million pounds, and most players earn more than two million pounds a month, which is the ceiling that cannot be exceeded at some banks.
The only positive regarding the football clubs is that they received assistance from the Lebanese Federation for the game in US dollars, and thus the administration can pay the salaries of the players in cash, either in dollars or after spending these funds in Lebanese pounds. The clubs received a $ 20,000 grant, and there is another payment like that after a while. The new crisis can be overcome by football clubs in this way for a very limited period, but here it is only about salaries, as clubs need to withdraw money to cover other expenses, including transportation, maintenance of their stadiums and the purchase of new equipment, all of which would complicate the task and create problems with the companies they work for. With the clubs or in a contract with them, if they are not allowed to withdraw the money they need in Lebanese pounds or US dollars from the banks.
Once again, Lebanese sport is a victim of measures taken by the Banque du Liban, and later by the banks, which greatly hinder the work of clubs that need funds to continue. Basketball seems to be almost completely absent and its clubs are suffering a lot financially. As for football, it can continue for a long time thanks to federal aid, but the financial measures will aggravate the crisis, push front-line players to seek opportunities outside the country and push “poor” clubs away, perhaps, because they cannot continue.

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