The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, was in charge of closing the Pro Foro Industria y Deporte 2022. He does it on the day that the Federation announces that it is considering denouncing him for “conspiracy” and the news that Barcelona will join CVC.
The next season will be the most normal and without COVID effects: “We have to talk about sustainability, which is what we have been able to achieve. Recovering the €5,000M in revenue is going to be complicated and will depend on the transfer market. In the field of transfers there will be one, I hope it is not PSG. We are not going to reach important figures yet. We will exceed €4,500M”.
Economic control in LaLiga: “The rules of economic control are approved by the clubs. The Delegated Commission adapted some of the rules due to the pandemic, such as 1/4 (being able to spend only one euro out of every four that is entered if you have exceeded the limit). There has been no flexibility, a spending policy has been created. The effect of the pandemic has been saved with great integrity and we will gradually recover the turnover but with sustainability”.
Transfer market: “The clubs that are sellers are going to continue selling. But we find ourselves against leagues that have fiscal policies for their states, such as the Italian one. There they have 10% personal income tax. There the players earn 360,000 euros more than here and that hurts us There are also other territories, which are not as well known, with more advantageous rules. In France, the transfer premium can be diluted. In Spain we are heavily penalized for this and it makes us less competitive.”
UEFA Financial Fair Play Reform: “Now it’s called the Sustainability Plan. There is important progress. The patron clubs, I don’t mean club-state anymore because of what Ceferín says, coincidentally they are the teams that don’t care about losing money and cheating with sponsorship. We are very against this. I think the new Fair Play will work. We must remember that the 2017 complaint to both clubs (PSG and City) were sanctioned with not playing in the Champions League, but the TAD, in a strange decision, He removed it. I trust it will work now. It is impossible for PSG to achieve economic control. We are going to denounce it this week or the next. The current regulations are better. If we were sanctioned last time, why not now? “We are leading these issues in Europe. Other leagues don’t like these messes, but we are going to lead so that they are aware of what is happening. These types of clubs are as dangerous as the Super League. The Spanish teams make them compete at an inferior level. conditions. Haaland’s ration to City I’d like to know how they did it. Mino Raiola asked for a large commission. We have denounced City a month ago.”
Economic control in other Leagues: “At least the clubs that are in European competitions have to pass UEFA’s economic control, even though they don’t have them in their leagues. It’s an important step forward. UEFA has put a lot of things into our system. Looking at economic control a priori is the key to our health.
Sale of audiovisual rights: “In the previous tenderThree years ago, we already warned that it was difficult to grow in the sale of national audiovisual rights. We have kept. The hope to grow was Horeca (bars). Sky in England he gets 600 million. We thought we would get €180M. The pandemic has destroyed everything. We have lost three years of growth. Before the pandemic there were 123,000 bars with football and now there will be 32,000. With the Second Division we seek to test a new model. The OTT world is very good because they open windows for the future. We are not going to see the Second on LaLiga Sport TV yet. We want the Second to be on multiple platforms. We may be talking about a transition cycle in the form of football consumption. As has happened with the series. It will be slower because the product is more expensive, but it is already being experienced in different countries.”
Do you like the reform of the Champions?: “We have managed to get UEFA to understand that you cannot put in the club coefficient and not put in as many games as you wanted. We are going to see how it works when the 2024-27 period is over and what can be done afterwards. If it penalizes the national leagues a lot or not. I’m very skeptical. I’m not sure that the new Champions League will be a successful project. Something yes, but not at the level they’re talking about. It’s a very complicated format. The value of audiovisual rights doesn’t go up that much. Now we have We have to agree on the schedules, to see how we link everything. If a Champions League match is suspended now, when is it played? Now there is no space on the calendars”.
Barcelona joins CVC and its future in the Super League is up in the air: “Barcelona has been aware of the agreements with CVC of LaLiga Impulso since August. They were about to enter. It seems incongruous that if they enter with CVC they remain in that Superliga position. It is Barcelona’s decision. I have kept everything that I have been able to on the sidelines about his possible entry”.
What do you think of the latest controversies in Spanish football with the recordings?: “I do not have any personal war with Rubiales, I have a war with transparency. They have also published emails and I have given explanations. But I do not see explanations as to why he has recorded ministers. He has secretly sent me a former secretary of the RFEF to record me. It is a football that I thought was exiled. Who is going to sit down with someone from the Federation now if they are recording you? We ended up with an incredible press release putting the 2030 World Cup in danger. Do you mean that if they don’t stop messing with him they won’t bring the World Cup to Spain? I’ve even written a book about buying matches, which was a situation in which I was even scared. Since November I’ve had four or five meetings with people from the Federation who denounce corruption. I want them to take out the entire tape of this Saturday, I was asking very important questions.”
The Federation of Rubiales accuses him of conspiring: “He has to explain to us why a deputy secretary of the RFEF sends me, from a third party, who wanted to report matters of the Federation, and that is why I sat down with him. I have sat down in a meeting to deal with the complaints that They wanted to do. It was a very colloquial event with Miguel García Caba, who I’ve known him for many years. I don’t like Rubiales as president of the Federation and I’ve tried not to get LaLiga clubs to support him. It’s public and notorious. He tries to deflect the subject by saying I’m on a plan, but he’s just the one sinking. Who’s he going to meet up with if he’s filming?”
How was the recording that they made?: “The president of the Federation has to dedicate himself to making television scripts. Gerardo González calls me and tells me that he sends Rubiales home to Miguel García Caba, that the Federation does not want him. I find out and they tell me that he They want to meet with me. I talk to Carlos del Campo and tell him to ask him if this is true. And they tell him that it is. I met with him because I wanted to report it. It’s what I’ve done whenever they wanted to report corruption issues to me. They have to take out the whole tape, very interesting topics were discussed in that meeting. But in truth, Rubiales sent it to me to record it. That’s why I say it looks like a movie. It’s incredible. It’s very sad. It’s amazing. It’s such a montage. level to get recordings”.
The Federation intends to denounce him: “If they tell me that they are going to denounce me, they are already taking time. They believed in the Federation that I had the Pegasus application. I am not behind anything. I am only behind eliminating elements of corruption if someone denounces me. Of all these things I have very informed to whom I have to inform… Those who are in some detective campaigns are them with the president of AFE. The one who joins Fernando Sanz to make a strategy to eliminate the president of the union is Rubiales. And the one who ask for emails to eliminate the president of LaLiga is Rubiales. I have always said that I do not want him as president. Not even the First RFEF clubs want him.”
What do you think of the recordings that have been made of you?: “I hope they publish everything. There are elements that are discussed in that meeting that are not public, they are indications of rumor, that have their investigation process…
The possibility that Spain will be left without Mundial: “In all the recordings of Rubiales, Zumosol’s cousin appears. Rubiales threatens that if you don’t do this or that, FIFA or UEFA will come. Now they are saying that if this continues we will lose the World Cup. The one who sends a guy to record me is Rubiales. In my recording there are a couple of rough things (referring to Rubiales).
Possibility of denouncing the facts: “I speak with people (from the Federation) who have their jobs and in two I went as a lawyer. Concrete evidence is needed to denounce.”
Do you think the government should act?: “I don’t want to influence or pressure. There are the facts. I value them as president of LaLiga. This is not a Rubiales-Tebas war. I have been denounced before a Prosecutor’s Office and I have always given explanations. On the other hand, here it is not done and Rubiales is hiding. Let whoever has to do it appreciate it if Spanish football deserves these things to happen”.
Will you continue to collect information?: “As I did at the time with the issue of match-fixing or with Villar. In those cases I also collected information on corruption. I cannot go and denounce the Federation issue without evidence. It is my obligation to sit down, investigate it and report it “.
Laporta has said that he does not want him to talk about his signings: “I say things as they are and I defend LaLiga. I only wish that the names I read can be incorporated. I would like Lewandowski to join”.