Javier Tebas was in luck, delighted with the celebration of the III Club Conference that took place at the Port Aventura convention center between Tuesday and Wednesday. A mammoth meeting, with 647 guests, where sports entities have presented their progress and shared ideas. “The collective awareness that is being created is fantastic for football. The Impulso plan helps us grow. We have two more years to finish building and then the highest effects will be seen. It is seen that the signs are correct. Our clubs have a better image, more commercial growth and more internationalization. There is still a long way to go, but we are on the right path,” the president of LaLiga said in a meeting with a small group of media. The president, however, did not forget his recurring “battles.” To his crusade against the Super League he has added another front: the controversial videos of Real Madrid TV, already in the crosshairs of the employers’ association.
“They sold that the Super League had been devastated by the court ruling and it has not been devastated at all. The ruling says that UEFA has a monopoly and that it has abused its dominant position by not having a regulation to create a new competition. There must be a regulation in conditions, that it be free and transparent, and UEFA has had it since 2022. But it has not authorized the Super League. They will have to ask permission from UEFA and have conditions that I believe the current format does not meet because it goes against the values ??of the sport of European law, especially the issue of promotions”, charged, once again, against the competition that seeks to replace the Champions League.
“At an institutional level, LaLiga is alone against the Super League,” he added before attacking his great ideologue: “Florentino would invent something if the tournament does not go ahead. He never loses because of the story. The influence that Florentino has in Europe is zero He is a great president of Real Madrid, but he is a bad manager at creating competitions and he reads very poorly the effects it has on football. He acts as a bar counter, as I already said. In Europe he has no reputation, it is not what some believe, it is almost the opposite.”
He did not lower his tone when he referred to the vision that the white leader has of the Spanish domestic competition. “Florentino doesn’t want the League to be strong, or at least he wants it to be the League that he controls. He doesn’t want it to get out of hand with clubs that grow, that can sign players for him. He says that in Spain only Madrid is worth it. He thinks that “All the money that Spanish football generates is thanks to Madrid and a little bit to Barça,” he insisted.
Tebas called the staging of the Super League almost three years ago “superb.” “You can’t go to the clubs in Europe saying that Madrid and Barça will receive more money and without having debated it. It doesn’t sit well with big clubs, not just small ones. In European football they call it the ‘Florentinoliga’,” he said, also pointing out the reasons for the change in communication strategy: “They do not dare to show their faces. Florentino does not come out because in 2021 they ‘broke his face’. Now they send third parties because they are not convinced. They put Bernd Reichart, from A22, and if fail, to the trash.”
He was equally forceful when describing the residual role that he considers the other big club interested in the newborn project has: “This is led by Florentino. Laporta does not lead anything, he has enough with Barça. Laporta is waiting to see if he wins the lottery because “He believes that it will be the economic solution for the club. He can wait because it is not going to be.”
On the other hand, he highlighted the “problem” that the Blaugrana entity has with the frustrated sale of 10% of Barca Vision, initially agreed with the Libero fund for 40 million. “If they do not sell, they will not have more income to reach the 1-1 rule (being able to invest the same amount in signings that they achieve with sales). If it arrives in June, that welcome money will be for Barça. I imagine that they are working to finish to sell that asset,” he speculated.
Nor did he forget the Negreira case, “the most serious issue at the arbitration level”, which respects “the judicial process” to “clarify” the facts. “Some people want Barça to be shot for the Negreira case and to go on their knees from Barcelona to Madrid to apologize to Las Rozas and then to the Bernabéu,” he ironized.
“I have never seen so much referee tension,” the recurring videos from Real Madrid TV towards the referees were added to the cocktail shaker of controversy. “The channel is a public concession. I am sure that they granted it assuming that it would respect the values ??of the sport. We must review the conditions of the concession. LaLiga is beginning to take action against the videos,” said Tebas about what he defines as “a predetermined strategy through social networks, with about 15 influencers, to create inadequate awareness.”
“Can you imagine a video of the referees created by Barça and the rest of the clubs following? We would destroy football. It is evident that we cannot continue in this line,” concluded Tebas, aware of the magnitude and power in Spain of the Madrid entity: “No one rattles the cat about the videos because of what Real Madrid is in this country. It commands respect. The referees have enough with the Negreira case. I have been president for ten years and having Florentino in front of me every day It is not comfortable”.
