BARCELONA – Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, highlighted the “good health” of the Spanish competition, highlighted that despite the losses produced last season due to the coronavirus pandemic “we can look to the future with optimism” and admitting his hope in the permanence of Lionel messi in Spain, with Barcelona, ”for a matter of belonging and sentimental rather than economic for the competition,” he ruled that the Super League “is dead.”
The strength of LaLiga, Tebas argued, is explained through “the signing of an eight-year contract with ESPN, which is a very important message. You don’t have to have great players to maintain the interest, which the competition itself has. It is a message to other competitions of how important it is to maintain the importance of the product. “
Asked how a possible departure of Leo Messi could affect, Tebas was resounding and clear in his explanation. “It is impossible to say. Yes we can calculate what the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo or from Neymar and what volume does Messi mean about it. At the time they did not represent a great loss and perhaps Messi was … But you have to understand that we have signed the most important agreement with ESPN for eight years and from here eight years, even four years from now, Messi will no longer be there. I mean that when negotiating and signing the agreement they did not ask us whether or not Messi would be there … Not when there was that problem of his with Barcelona last year did they ask us. It can affect the sponsors of Barcelona, but not for the League ”, he resolved.
“We want Messi, who has always been linked to Barcelona and who has been the best player in history, to continue at Barcelona, but not for an economic issue, but for a matter of permanence and sentimentality,” he said in this regard, warning that Messi’s registration is an issue that the Barça club will have to resolve.
“The registration of Messi is not denied by LaLiga, but by the rules of economic control. If players enter, Barcelona must release the salary mass of other players it has or seek new income. To include Messi, such as Agüero or whoever, it must lower that wage bill ”, he declared, warning that“ the rules will not be changed because they are Barcelona or because they are Messi ”.
“I would like Sergio Ramos, like Messi, they stayed, as in their day Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo, “he explained before the departure of LaLiga stars, but making it clear that all this is not a problem because the competition itself is above the players. “If decisions are made to be the most stable League, then those decisions are welcome. We are the European League that will lose the least money, and with a lot of difference. And that means that we have, we continue to have, great players. Cristiano left. .. And in Italy their television revenues have dropped by 50 percent. France sells 30 less times than us despite taking Neymar … I mean that the growth of the League is not impaired by the departure of players “, specific.
1:55
The president of LaLiga reveals how he changed his strategy to boost the growth of the tournament in the United States, which led to the agreement with ESPN to broadcast his games starting next season.
“The figures leave and others come. Now Agüero, Alaba arrive … And until the season begins, other players will come. They already asked us that when Cristiano left but there is no concern. Luis Suárez will stay, for example, and the The level of players will continue to be very important, as in the Premier League, or even more so, with the best players as a whole ”, declared the Spanish leader, who congratulated himself on the club’s operations, noting the need, and awareness, of have restraint.
“The signings will continue with great players and coaches. To continue incorporating top-level players, who will continue to arrive, is important. But the market will be contracted again because the money will be destined to compensate for the losses. It will not flow in the market as before and we will have to wait for the next season. I do not think that there will be large operations, yes there will be, but not as in the past yet, “he advanced, at a time that, he revealed, is important after the impact of the coronavirus.
“Less money has been lost than was initially calculated due to the pandemic. There will be significant losses, yes, but below what was initially thought, which was estimated at around 800 million euros and we will be between 600 and 700 ”, He specified, warning that” we come with an important solvency of the clubs and that allows us to see the future with optimism, despite the seriousness of the pandemic. “
Facing the season that will begin in August, Tebas was optimistic in relation to the presence of fans in the stadiums, predicting that “we will be able to start with 70 percent capacity in the stadiums … And I firmly believe that we will have 100 percent as of November, if the situation improves and the impact decreases.
“The population that remains to be vaccinated in Spain is the youngest, which is the least affected, and that will benefit the public.”
THE SUPERLEAGUE
“The super league format is dead. What they call solidarity I call alms. It is a dangerous concept and a clear principle must be maintained on this issue,” Tebas declared when talking about the controversy of the Super League, an issue in which it was very forceful.
“In England, especially, there was a lot of tension. And I see that the clubs want to turn the page of that confrontation that the president of Real Madrid opened … It is clear that governance in the world of football must be rethought, but not based on to what the big clubs want. It cannot be that the big clubs are the only ones who rule, yes, of course they are important, but from there to deciding how football develops goes a lot “he revealed, pointing to the president as the main instigator Real Madrid but not forgetting Barcelona or Atlético de Madrid.
“Atlético de Madrid recognized their mistake … And in general the clubs understood, when they reflected, that they had been wrong. Here we are all aligned that we do not want that Super League and we are convinced that not everything revolves around the big clubs. We have to continue growing with the joint strategy of all the clubs ”, he warned.
1:02
The LaLiga president acknowledged that the agreement with ESPN will advance the idea of bringing an official match to the United States.
“Yes, in the last weeks I have spoken with Barcelona executives. They consider that they should maintain what they do and I think they are wrong. What they thought is impossible and that they have not left is a matter for them because the nine who have left I think they don’t want to continue, they want to dissolve it. If they must now pay compensation, it is because they want to leave. And that model that they want to maintain, that the English have already been threatened by the Premier, is dead. They want to continue with their flag but it is a ship with three shipwrecked men ”, Tebas sentenced.
He was also fighter with the sports justice that the CAS imparts, revealing that with the judiciary “it is time to make a deep reflection because every day I believe less in it. It is a not very independent court and world football must rethink a lot where it is going with the CAS “ruled, arguing that when” it sanctioned Mallorca, Malaga or the Turkish team, UEFA was not wrong … But by chance it did when PSG or Manchester City were sanctioned and CAS changed the sanction. . “.
“It has nothing to do with the issue of clubs and the Super League,” Tebas clarified. “I mean that UEFA makes decisions and the CAS raises sanctions against the greats, Manchester City, PSG … We do not trust the CAS and we have to make a change in this sports justice because what there is does not work.”
From there he reflected that the power and the basis of decisions in the world of football “must change. The Leagues, which are the industrial engine of all countries, must have a better agreement with UEFA and FIFA. And it is no longer enough. the consultation must be agreements to solve the problems, with reflection “.