Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, assured that Luis Rubiales should dismiss Joan Laporta as a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for his relationship with the Negreira case and regretted Real Madrid’s criticism of the referees, harshly expressed through his television channel with various videos.
The top mandator of LaLiga, after the presentation of the ‘ISDE Sport Convention 2023’, made it clear that Laporta should abandon his position in the Federation. “Rather than resigning, he should be dismissed by the president of the RFEF. He has a manager that his club is involved in paying 20 years to the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. He should not be on the Board of Directors. But that is a decision of the president of the RFEF”, he affirmed.
“The boards of directors of the federation are appointed by the president. They are matters of personal decision of the president of the Federation. It is not a matter of election. This is a case of his free will decision. I think he should cease it. If he does not cease it because he has given clear explanations, that he gives us all those explanations. But he participated in a period that is prescribed in the criminal sphere, but he participated with the payments and I think he should be dismissed, “he added.
Also, in reference to the Negreira case, he indicated that “one thing” is that the results have been influenced and another is that “they had the intention” to influence. For Tebas, only with the intention of influencing “whatever” in the arbitration issue, Barcelona is already committing both a sporting and criminal offense.
“I don’t believe either, and I said it, that referees have been bought. I don’t believe that there are referees who have been sold. What I see, Negreira said, is that they tried to influence so that the referees were neutral. That already, to At the sporting level, it is prescribed. But at the criminal level, no”, he added about the “biggest problem in the history of Spanish football”. “It is very serious, but it is prescribed. We gave all the documents to the prosecutor’s office and denounced UEFA. UEFA can enter these cases because there is no statute of limitations. That the situation be clarified,” he asked.
“Our obligation is to clarify things well, that we see what has happened. Inaction and trying to look the other way does much more damage to the League. We are very clear about it,” he added. Finally, he revealed that he has not spoken with Joan Laporta about the ‘Negreira case’ and said that it is the president of Barcelona who has to speak and give all the pertinent explanations.
On the other hand, Tebas criticized the repeated complaints of Real Madrid against the referees, whom in recent weeks it has accused of partiality as a result of the outbreak of the Negreira case and after the arbitration by De Burgo Bengoetxea in the classic past. “It seems quite bad and exaggerated to me. It is damaging the reputation of Barcelona and the competition. The regulations of the Spanish Federation could intervene. Constantly setting fire to the referees must have some infraction,” said the president.
