Tebas ordered to pay legal costs after Swiss court upholds Rubiales acquittal

Javier Tebas has lost his long-running legal dispute with former Royal Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales after Switzerland’s highest court rejected his appeal against Rubiales’ acquittal.

The First Criminal Division of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court cleared Rubiales in a complaint brought by Tebas in 2019. The LaLiga president had accused the former Spanish football chief of recording a meeting involving UEFA members without their consent.

The ruling confirms an earlier decision by the Criminal Court of Appeal, issued on 17 February, which found Rubiales not guilty of the allegations relating to the recording of those conversations.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court’s judgment, dated 29 July, also upholds a decision requiring Tebas to pay the costs incurred during the legal proceedings.

The case had formed part of a lengthy dispute between the two senior figures in Spanish football. Tebas, who leads LaLiga, had pursued the complaint against Rubiales over the alleged unauthorised recording. Rubiales consistently denied wrongdoing and maintained that he had acted lawfully.

Speaking to Spanish news agency EFE, Rubiales welcomed the final decision and said he was “very happy, because it is final now”.

He added that “justice has been done after seven years”, describing the ruling as significant because, in his view, it demonstrated that Tebas had “continually sought to damage his image with lies, helped by some media outlets with interests that are completely different from truth and accuracy”.

Rubiales also reiterated his belief in “his lawful way of acting and his innocence in the face of the false accusations that he and his team have suffered”.

He said he would continue to “fight to achieve justice”.

The latest judgment brings the Swiss legal proceedings to an end, with the country’s highest court refusing to overturn the appeal court’s decision in Rubiales’ favour. It also leaves Tebas responsible for the procedural costs ordered as part of the case.

Rubiales served as president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation before leaving the position. His time in charge was marked by a series of controversies, while his relationship with Tebas was characterised by an extended public and legal conflict.

The ruling concerns only the complaint over the alleged recording of the UEFA-related meeting. The court’s decision was welcomed by Rubiales as a final vindication after seven years of legal action, while he repeated his intention to continue pursuing what he described as justice.