The war in Spanish football continues: The RFEF considers the CVC-LNFP agreement totally illegal

Yesterday, Real Madrid announced that they are going to take legal action against La Liga president Javier Tebas and the CVC fund, stemming from the major announcement from the League about a massive financial deal that could hurt teams in Spain long-term — and one that gives CVC the power to have access to the assets of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Athletic Club.

Today, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) took another hammer blow to Javier Tebas’s plans, releasing a statement which essentially says that CVC’s deal with La Liga wasn’t legal:

The Royal Spanish Football Federation has had the opportunity to examine before tomorrow’s Assembly and with a margin of only 48 hours the documentation provided - we do not know if in a complete way - by the LNFP that structures the operation intended by it and CVC. This operation, carried out with the absence of the slightest publicity and concurrence in the selection of the successful bidder, has two parts: the one related to the commercialization of audiovisual rights, on the one hand; and the rest of the LNFP businesses, which make up a heterogeneous group, on the other.

Regarding the agreements between the LNFP and CVC related to the audiovisual rights of sports clubs and corporations, the RFEF must express its opposition. Not only for legal reasons, which will undoubtedly generate numerous litigation derived from the agreement and may put its own viability in doubt, since it is intended to force some legal institutions to the extreme; but also for economic reasons, since the rights of clubs and SADs are heavily taxed for the next fifty years in exchange for a small amount of money. But the most important thing is that the agreement increases inequality and, in a capital and definitive way, makes a reasonable evolution of the format of professional football competition in Spain impossible. causing that in practice and in application of the agreement the competition is petrified without the possibility of evolution or can only be modified when a third party outside the sports structure so decides or agrees, a fact that flagrantly violates the law and the European sports model. In addition, forget about the clubs that play non-professional competitions that, at the time of their promotion to professional competition, will see that their income is reduced by CVC’s remuneration, without having obtained any benefit from the contribution of that entity.


Full statement can be read here.

This is getting messy. A report from Onda Cero today stated that Real Madrid and Barcelona may even refuse to televise their matches if Tebas doesn’t back down:

It likely won’t come down to that, but there is still a long way to go in this mess. Later today, our own Kiyan Sobhani and Gabe Lezra will talk about the legalities of everything happening in Spain right now on the podcast. Stay tuned.