MADRID, 19 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 7 of Majadahonda has dismissed Mediapro’s lawsuit against the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), to which the audiovisual group claimed damages, plus interest and costs, for not being able to schedule matches outside Saturdays and Sundays.
According to the ruling, Mediapro claimed 169,055 euros from the federative body in compensation for its refusal to schedule games on Fridays; however, the judge determines that “it cannot be considered” that the RFEF acted “illegally.”
In this sense, the magistrate recalls that from 2010 to June 31, 2019, LaLiga matches were held on the previous Fridays and the Mondays after the bulk of the day on Saturday and Sunday “because the authorization of the RFEF was agreed in the coordination signed by LaLiga and the RFEF “.
As of July 2019, the employers’ association and the federative body “did not reach an agreement on this point.” “The plaintiff erred in a lack of caution by assuming that Annex II of the Coordination Agreement prior to 2019 would be extended, without that finally being the case. As a corollary to the foregoing, assessing the evidence provided to the record and practiced in court, and taking into account the fundamental principles that govern the burden of proof, whoever judges does not see any wrongdoing in any act carried out by the defendant, “he says.
The sentence, however, is not pronounced regarding the competition to schedule games on Fridays and Mondays. “It is not up to whoever decides to determine the competence of the setting of the days of unofficial competition, that is, the dispute between LaLiga and the RFEF is an administrative matter, in one aspect, and commercial in terms of the defense of competition, in another, in fact, on these issues there are, and thus are recorded in the procedure, contradictory judicial decisions and an appeal for cassation already filed, “he indicates.
In October 2020, the Higher Sports Council (CSD) issued a resolution authorizing LaLiga to schedule LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank matches on Fridays and Mondays, in the latter case with various conditions. In June of this year, the Provincial Court of Madrid has partially estimated LaLiga’s resource for the dispute of matches on Mondays and Fridays.