Javier Tebas warns football is already facing a threat to domestic leagues

Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, says the danger facing domestic football competitions is no longer a future possibility but a reality already affecting the sport.

Speaking at the Social Football Summit in Turin, Tebas told Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio: “We are not facing a threat to our domestic competitions; we are already living through the danger.”

He urged the major leagues to look beyond short-term financial gains and assess how decisions taken now could affect the game in the medium and long term.

Tebas said football authorities should consider the consequences of newly introduced competitions, including the Club World Cup, and question what their impact could be “in five or six years”.

He added that clubs outside European competitions were bearing the greatest impact from changes to football’s structure. Tebas also referred to the dispute during the 2018-19 season over proposed changes to the Champions League.

According to Tebas, UEFA, FIFA and the European Club Association attempted to reshape the Champions League in a way similar to the proposal put forward by the European Super League project. He said the conflict had been significant and ended with those opposing the proposed changes prevailing.

Discussing La Liga’s position, Tebas criticised the conduct of some football organisations.

“We are not afraid to say that some institutions are acting in a way that harms this industry,” he said. “FIFA must change.”

Tebas argued that the football industry had become too concentrated around a small number of clubs. Europe has more than 60,000 professional players, he said, while the entire football business is centred on only 20 clubs.

That imbalance, he maintained, creates a serious risk for the remaining clubs and players.

Tebas also highlighted the competing financial interests connected to football competitions and said the priority should be to protect the competitions as a whole rather than favouring individual clubs.

“Often, the interests of a competition do not align with the interests of some clubs, and we must work to change this approach,” he said.

Despite his concerns, Tebas said he remained confident that the battle could be won. He recalled issuing warnings 10 years ago, when some people described him as pessimistic because of his predictions about the direction football was taking.

The current situation, he suggested, had shown that those earlier concerns were justified.

Tebas concluded by addressing the control exercised over the sport by FIFA and UEFA.

“UEFA and FIFA have a monopoly, and I respect that monopoly as long as their decisions are free and transparent and serve to preserve the integrity of European football,” he said.