Real Madrid demand Tebas resign after propaganda comparison
MADRID: Real Madrid’s Tebas resignation demand came on Friday after LaLiga president Javier Tebas compared the club’s criticism of referees and its television channel to the propaganda techniques of Nazi Germany’s Joseph Goebbels.
The club issued a strongly worded statement in response to a long post by Tebas on social media, calling his remarks “absolutely intolerable and extraordinarily serious”. Madrid said the demand covers both his role as LaLiga president and his position as vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
How the Tebas resignation row started
Tebas wrote on Friday that “Real Madrid’s management directs an orchestra of mouthpieces and Real Madrid TV leads the singing.” He was responding to articles by two journalists in the Spanish newspaper El Debate, who had suggested that Tebas and LaLiga were acting against the club’s interests.
The LaLiga president accused the club’s in-house channel of selecting refereeing clips that suit Madrid’s narrative and repeating grievances to feed suspicion. “Their score is always the same: select the plays that suit them, repeat the grievance, feed the suspicion, and point fingers at the enemies,” he wrote.
“That method recalls propaganda mechanisms used by Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s minister of propaganda: systematic repetition, construction of an enemy, and subordination of facts to the narrative,” Tebas added. He clarified that the comparison was with “those propaganda techniques, not with an ideology or, of course, with the Madridista fanbase”.
Madrid rejected the clarification, saying it “does not alleviate the deeply offensive, morally repugnant and institutionally undignified character of his statements”.
Madrid link the row to the Negreira case
The club’s statement tied the latest flare-up to the wider dispute over Spanish football’s governance. Madrid said it had approached UEFA seeking full clarification of the payments made over several years by Barcelona to companies linked to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.
The Negreira case, one of the biggest scandals in Spanish football, concerns payments from Barcelona to businesses connected with the man who once oversaw the country’s referees. A Spanish court dismissed bribery charges in 2024, but questions about propriety continue.
Madrid also called for a comprehensive overhaul of Spain’s refereeing system and football governance, including replacing officials who held posts during the period under scrutiny.
A 13-year feud
This is not the first time Madrid have called for Tebas to go. In September, the club demanded a new LaLiga president after Tebas dismissed their complaints about refereeing decisions as a “smokescreen” for shortcomings on the pitch following the Madrid derby defeat to Atletico.
Tebas responded that he had “lost count of the number of times, in 13 years, the Real Madrid directors have asked for my resignation or tried to ban me”. The 64-year-old has led LaLiga since 2013 and was re-elected unopposed in 2023 until 2027.
The timing adds spice to a busy week for the club. Madrid are preparing for a league fixture against Sevilla, having staged a dramatic late comeback to beat Roma 4-3 in the Champions League midweek. They will be without Vinicius Junior, who is serving a four-match ban after pulling an opponent’s hair and confronting the referee. FIFA also recently ordered a partial stadium closure for Spain over anti-Muslim chants, putting the country’s football governance under wider scrutiny.
What happens next
Tebas shows no sign of stepping down, and his mandate runs to 2027. Madrid said they would keep defending their institutional standing and pressing for changes to Spanish football’s structures. Whether other clubs rally behind Tebas or use the row to question his leadership will decide if this feud stays a war of words.
The original reporting on this development was published by Geo Super and Reuters.
FAQ
Why did Real Madrid demand Javier Tebas resign?
The club said his comparison of Real Madrid TV’s refereeing coverage to the propaganda methods of Nazi official Joseph Goebbels was deeply offensive and showed a lack of neutrality and impartiality.
What did Tebas actually say?
Tebas wrote that Real Madrid’s management “directs an orchestra of mouthpieces” and that its approach recalled Goebbels’s techniques of “systematic repetition, construction of an enemy, and subordination of facts to the narrative”. He said the comparison was with propaganda methods, not Nazi ideology.
Has Tebas resigned?
No. Tebas rejected the demand, noting that Madrid’s directors have repeatedly sought his removal during his 13 years as LaLiga president. His current term runs until 2027.
What is the Negreira case?
It concerns payments by Barcelona to companies linked to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice president of Spain’s refereeing committee. Bribery charges were dismissed in 2024, but Madrid want a full UEFA investigation.
