Tebas: “If the Super League goes ahead, I will resign”

The president of the League, Javier Tebas, has once again spoken loud and clear about issues such as the Negreira case or the favorable ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) a little over a month ago in favor of the Super League.

In an interview given to El Mundo, the top leader of Spanish football calls Bernd Reichard’s competition “fake” and assures the following: “If the Super League goes ahead, I will resign.” Furthermore, he points out that everything related to the Super League “is a lie” and that “who is behind it is Florentino.” “They say they are not going to harm the national leagues, when they know they are going to do it,” he adds.

The championship, which will allow clubs “to be free to decide their own future” according to Bernd Reichard, executive director of A22, the organizing company of the Super League, will have a new format of 64 teams. A model that remains just as closed for the Spanish lawyer, since it “violates the European model of sport.”

“They lie when they say that it will be free, when they are already starting to pull the rabbit out of the hat and admit that there will be a subscription model,” says Tebas about the broadcast of the Super League matches. Likewise, Tebas warns that he would resign from his position as president of the League, if this new competition brought together 60 teams.

“Spanish football would be heading towards a terrible economic problem. The income would be half in a short time,” he emphasizes. On the other hand, he assures that young people continue to consume football in Spain: “Girona-Sevilla almost equals Real Madrid-Almería in spectators. Where we have to be most concerned is the usability of those over 50 years old,” he says.

Another issue that Tebas faces is the Negreira case and its consequences on Spanish football: “From the first moment we went to the Prosecutor’s Office, something that the club chaired by Florentino Pérez did not do. Before the court we asked for evidentiary proceedings and the club that president Florentino Pérez has not asked for any,” he points out against the president of the merengue club.

Likewise, the top leader of the football employers’ association comments that “there may” be a non-aggression pact between Florentino and Laporta as a result of their connection with the Super League: “We will go to the end (…). I suppose that Barça wanted the most homely referees to whistle, it was journalist Alfonso Azuara’s theory of hawks and doves.”

Regarding the influence of Enriquez Negreira, former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Tebas insists that he had influence “especially in promotions and relegations.” “I know that the CTA and he (Medina Cantalejo) are concerned and want to take steps to reform.”

Regarding the president of Barça, Joan Laporta, he points out that he has met with him, “but we do not talk about that issue because it is under the criminal sphere.” “He did what he could to defend himself. What did we expect, that he was going to say that they had bought Negreira to influence the appointments? ”He explains about the press conference in which Laporta obtained reports from Negreira to explain the case to the club members.

In the case of the current arbitration model in Spain, he comments that “the referees cannot continue depending on the RFEF.” “We have to go to the English model with an external commercial company. Another solution would be for them to give their explanations at the end of the games.” Furthermore, Tebas wonders “if it is normal for Real Madrid TV to broadcast images of the referees with qualifications before matches.” “You can’t go from criticism to pressure.”

Finally, Tebas also spoke about Luis Rubiales, former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, with whom he did not maintain a friendly relationship: “He caught me at the CSD and told me: “I have things from you and if you don’t accept what we are going to propose , I will make it public everywhere. “I went white.”

Regarding why the Government did not act before against Rubiales, he said the following: “A high-ranking sports, government, official in this country told me that the party he had in Salobreña was “his personal life.” I answered that anyone who leads a disordered, immoral or amoral personal life, who considers that women can be an object for a paella that we all know what it was, is not prepared to lead the RFEF.