Tebas mocks Real Madrid trophy drought while defending La Liga model

Javier Tebas has used Real Madrid’s recent lack of silverware to hit back at long-standing criticism of La Liga’s financial rules, while contrasting Spain’s approach with what he described as the loss-making model of the Premier League.

The La Liga president was speaking in Madrid at a reception for clubs promoted to Spain’s professional tiers for the 2026-27 season, an event he turned into a defence of his organisation’s regulations and a pointed swipe at Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

The long-running debate over whether La Liga should follow the Premier League’s path – in terms of commercial strategy, competitiveness and financial risk – framed Tebas’s remarks. The Spanish top flight is frequently accused of lacking competitive balance, with the title race often reduced to a duel between Real Madrid and Barcelona, while the English league is widely praised for its broader competitiveness and depth.

Tebas argued that some of the fiercest opposition to La Liga’s financial controls has been driven by on-pitch frustrations in Madrid rather than structural concerns.

“There are clubs that always question all our systems and financial regulations, and many times a Real Madrid representative has come out to question them,” Tebas said, according to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo. “But this questioning often appears because of the sporting circumstances the club is going through,” he added, pointing out that Real Madrid have not lifted a trophy in the past two years.

The comment, delivered in a matter-of-fact way, amounted to a thinly veiled jibe at Perez, who has repeatedly clashed with Tebas over issues ranging from La Liga’s spending limits to the failed European Super League project.

Premier League finances under scrutiny

Tebas then broadened his argument, turning his fire on the financial landscape of the Premier League. Citing headline figures, he portrayed English football’s economic environment as unsustainable when compared with the tight cost controls La Liga has imposed through its salary cap and spending rules.

“In the last year the Premier League’s losses reached one billion pounds, and in the year before there were similar losses, to the point that losses have reached 10 billion pounds in recent years,” he said.

“If this is the football model we are looking for… the sustainability of the institutions and securing their future comes above everything,” Tebas continued, making clear that, in his view, La Liga’s cautious approach is preferable to the Premier League’s more aggressive spending culture.

To illustrate his concerns over volatility in English football, Tebas referred to Leicester City, the club that stunned the sport by winning the Premier League in 2015-16 before sliding down the pyramid.

“No one now mentions where Leicester City, who were league champions, ended up and how they are now in the third division,” he said, using the club’s fall as a warning about the dangers of financial and sporting instability.

Government oversight versus self-regulation

Tebas concluded by contrasting the regulatory structures in England and Spain, framing the UK government’s involvement in English football as evidence that the Premier League has failed to manage its own finances responsibly.

“They do not take the sustainability of the clubs into account, and that is why the British government has intervened to manage the Premier League through an independent regulatory body,” he said.

“Meanwhile, we in Spain manage our financial affairs ourselves through the clubs. They would certainly not have taken this step unless there was a clear problem,” Tebas added.

His remarks underline the increasingly ideological divide between La Liga’s leadership and those who advocate moving closer to the Premier League’s model. They also highlight the depth of the rift between Tebas and Real Madrid, at a moment when the Spanish champions’ absence from the trophy stage over the past two seasons is being used by the league chief as ammunition in a wider battle over the future of European football governance.