CHAIRMANSHIP

  1. APPROVAL OF ROYAL DECREE 5/2015

    The approval of ROYAL DECREE-LAW 5/2015 ON URGENT MEASURES REGARDING THE MARKETING OF BROADCASTING RIGHTS OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL COMPETITIONS was, without a doubt, the most important event for LaLiga this season.

    On the 19th of September 2014, Miguel Cardenal, chairman of the Higher Sports Council, announced at the Extraordinary General Assembly held in Vigo, that the government was working on a regulation for the distribution of broadcasting rights among clubs. That initial introduction led to a long and laborious process.

    Finally, on the 6th of February 2015, in Madrid, the centralised sale of broadcasting rights was approved at LaLiga's assembly. It was approved almost unanimously, with 40 votes in favour and only one against. At the meeting it was decided to urge the government to approve soon the Royal Decree in order to implement the centralised sale.

    After a meeting held by the RFEF-LFP Commission in Madrid on the 6th of March, a consensus note was made public, and all the parties urged the government to approve "with urgency" the royal decree-law on the centralised sale of broadcasting rights for the Liga BBVA and Liga adelante, with an "equitable distribution and showing solidarity with amateur football". It was also requested that the regulation should establish the role that the RFEF, LaLiga, Clubs/SADs and the AFE should play in this new scenario in order to ensure a smooth operation of the process.

    At the press conference after the Extraordinary General Assembly held on the 25th of March at the Power8Stadium in Barcelona, Javier Tebas was convinced that the signature of the Royal Decree would materialise over the next few days. He also stated he had talked to Miguel Cardenal and that he was "the greatest defender of the Royal Decree".

    The first meeting with the government to go over several issues regarding the Royal Decree took place on the 26th of March in Madrid. Javier Tebas met with Minister of Education, Culture and Sport José Ignacio Wert and with the secretary of state for sport, Miguel Cardenal. No one from the RFEF attended the meeting although its chairman, Ángel María Villar, had confirmed his attendance. The objective was to confirm the position stated during the meeting that took place on the 6th of March with the minister of culture and sport. The fact that there was no one from the RFEF surprised everyone.

    On the 30th of March, LaLiga's Extraordinary General Assembly was held in Madrid, with the presence of all the clubs and SADs, adopting the following agreement:

    • To support the work carried out by LaLiga and, in particular, its chairman, for the approval of the Royal Decree-Law for the centralised sale of broadcasting rights.
    • To ask the RFEF to fully comply with what was agreed at the meeting of the RFEF-LaLiga Mixed Commission meeting held on the 6th of March 2015.
    • To condemn the actions of the RFEF's chairman for not respecting the agreements reached and, in particular, for his conscious and unjustified absence at the meeting organised by the minister of education on the 26th of March 2015.
    • To convey to the Spanish government that Spanish professional football, its top management body (LaLiga) and its current member clubs, do not feel represented by the RFEF's chairman due to his attitude and ask him to immediately change his stance for the good of Spanish football, and to carry out all the necessary actions to enable the approval of the Royal Decree-Law for the centralised sale, warning him that, otherwise, he will have to face the total opposition of professional football.

    The government approved the Royal decree-law regarding the marketing of broadcasting rights on the 30th of April. On the 14th of May, it was ratified by Parliament. That approval entails a historic step for Spanish professional football, bringing it in line with the most important European leagues, enabling it to be more competitive in the national and international markets.

    LaLiga thanks the sensitiveness of the Spanish government towards amateur clubs, other sports and other athletes. This measure portrays the total feeling of professional football in line with its corporate social responsibility, and LaLiga feels fully identified with it.

  2. GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE EPFL IN BARCELONA

    LaLiga hosted the General Assembly of the European Professional Football Leagues Association held on Saturday 21st of March 2015 at the ‘Auditori 1899’ of Barcelona's Camp Nou. The meeting was chaired by Frédéric Thiriez, president of the EPFL and of the French league and Javier Tebas, chairman of LaLiga, and it had the attendance of representatives from the 23 European leagues, amongst them, the Bundesliga, the English Premier League, Lega Serie A and the Russian Football Premier League. Amongst others, during the meeting the following issues were discussed: the dates of the Qatar World Cup 2022 and the regulation of footballer's third party ownership (TPO).

    Once the assembly came to an end, there was a press conference with Frédéric Thiriez and Javier Tebas to read the official communiqué in which the European leagues gave their opinion on FIFA´s decision to hold the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022 in winter. They both agreed that playing the world cup in the winter would be very damaging for the European leagues and that it is unthinkable that they are not part of the decision making for the competitions' calendars. The EPFL's chairman stated the EPFL´s availability to support any legal action that leagues may file in the near future.

    Coinciding with the assembly, LaLiga organised a seminar on Integrity and Match-fixing on Friday, the 20th of March 2015. Members of LaLiga, the EPFL, the European Commission, ECA and FIFpro participated in the meeting, whose objective was to analyse and examine several initiatives on match-fixing related to bets.

    There was also a seminar focused on the presentation of the sport data analysis system for professional sport clubs (Mediacoach). The usefulness of Mediacoach was presented and the experience was shared with the technical departments of other European leagues.

  3. OPENING OF THE OFFICE IN BARCELONA

    On Tuesday 24th of March 2015, Javier Tebas chaired the opening of the new office of LaLiga in Barcelona. The chairmen of FC Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and RCD Espanyol, Joan Collet, attended the opening with the representatives of Girona FC, CE Sabadell and UE Llagostera as well as the deputy chairman of the Catalan Football Federation, Joan Soteras.

  4. PRESENCE OF LALIGA IN EUROPE

    A professional has been hired in Brussels to have direct contact with the European institutions on issues of piracy, match-fixing, TPO and the single digital market. Until now, meetings and contacts have been had with general directorates of the European Commission, amongst them the General Directorate of Education and Culture and the General Directorate of the internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs.

  5. TPO: THIRD PARTY OWNERSHIP

    LaLiga champions the need to regulate third-party ownerships. After months of discussions at FIFA's working group and in several international fora, FIFA's Executive Committee, in the meeting held on the 18th and 19th of December, 2014, approved the new provisions for TPO, leading to a prohibition from the 1st of May 2015. The provisions are included in the FIFA bulletin no. 1464 dated 22nd of December 2014.

    Due to such prohibition and given that this prohibition is highly damaging for LaLiga's competitions, on the 2nd of February 2015 LaLiga, together with Liga Portuguesa de Fútbol Profesional (LPFP), decided to file a complaint against FIFA before the General Directorate of Competition of the European Commission. Currently, this complaint is still being examined.

    On the 9th of April 2015, both leagues organised in Madrid the Forum: “TPO: Path for a sustainable and competitive future in football worldwide", attended by representatives of several Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Brazilian teams and companies of the industry, amongst them some Brazilian, Spanish and English ones. It also had the attendance of Javier Tebas, chairman of LaLiga, and Luis Duque, his counterpart in the Portuguese league, who were in charge of officially closing the seminar.

  6. DECISION ON THE DATES FOR THE QATAR WORLD CUP 2022 - APPEAL AGAINST FIFA

    After several meetings of a working group on this topic and that had the attendance of LaLiga, on the 19th of March 2015, FIFA's Executive Committee approved the hosting of the Qatar World Cup 2022 starting on the 18th of December 2022. LaLiga has always championed that hosting the competition in winter would be highly damaging for leagues, both from a sporting and financial point of view. LaLiga's chairman was a member of FIFA's working group for the setting of the international competitions calendar and attended all the meetings that discussed this topic. After FIFA's decision, LaLiga, in the interest of all its member clubs and of its national competitions, filed on the 9th of April 2015, an appeal before the TAS. Currently it is being examined.