MADRID, 29 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, assured this Friday that modern Spanish football “is experiencing the greatest reputational crisis due to the Rubiales and Negreira cases”, at the same time that he described the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, as “egocentric” and messianic. , and “fun” to the one from FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta.
“Spain is experiencing the greatest reputational crisis in modern football due to the Rubiales and Negreira cases, and due to the racist attacks on Vinícius,” said the president in a preview of the interview on ‘Plano General’ provided by TVE to Europa Press.
Thus, Tebas denounced Rubiales’ “embarrassment” over the kiss to Jenni Hermoso at the medal ceremony at the final of the recent Women’s World Cup, in which Spain earned its first star. However, she believes that “there were ample reasons for the disqualification” of the former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) “before the kiss.”
“But the Higher Sports Council (CSD) did not attend to the LaLiga complaints that I myself presented. The ‘Rubiales case’ has covered up other things,” said the president of the employers’ association, in reference to other controversies that surrounded Rubiales, such as the contract with Saudi Arabia and Kosmos, Gerard Piqué’s company, to play the Spanish Super Cup in the Asian country.
Regarding the payments of FC Barcelona to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) José María Enríquez Negreira, for which the Blaugrana club is attributed a crime of bribery when investigating an alleged bribery, Tebas, who defended that “Negreira is corruption” , reiterated this “is not consummated with the purchase or the result achieved, but with the mere intention to influence, which is a crime.”
“There is no moral or ethical difference between the purchase of matches by teams and the purchase of referees,” the president reaffirmed, insisting that LaLiga remains focused on “the fight against match-fixing.”
“FLORENTINO PÉREZ IS SELF-CENTRIC AND MESSIANIC”
The president of LaLiga addressed the current ‘war’ between the employers’ association and Real Madrid, and referred to the president of the merengue club as an “egocentric and messianic” person. “He believes that Real Madrid will save us all, but I don’t pay attention to him,” he added, before highlighting that, on the contrary, Joan Laporta, president of Barça, “is very funny.” “But to have a few beers,” he joked.
“FC Barcelona is harmed by its nods to the independence movement, because it reduces its transversality among Spanish fans and fans from all over the world. This makes them feel orphaned,” Tebas said about the relationship between the Catalan club and the independence movement in the region.
Furthermore, Tebas was in favor of “promoting” women’s football from a “business” point of view, because their problem “is not gender.” “The Levante and Barça sides do the same thing, but they are not the same. It is the same difference between men’s and women’s football,” he said.
Finally, he warned that the political and social spheres “should pay more attention” to Spanish football, which “represents 1.4 percent of the GDP.” “I always say that football is the backbone of Spain, along with AVE and El Corte Inglés,” she concluded.